PRELIMINARY WORK

Vaccine effectiveness studies provide essential insights into real-world vaccine performance but are subject to various biases. We conducted a scoping review to 1) identify key risk-of-bias concepts in VE studies and 2) assess their impact on vaccine effectiveness estimates. Bias in vaccine effectiveness studies is complex and there is a need for methodological tools that enhance the reliability of vaccine effectiveness estimates for public health decision-making.

Want to know more? Check out the study protocol here.

Vaccine effectiveness studies provide critical real-world evidence on vaccine performance. However, this type of research and the observational designs employed are prone to biases that can impact findings. We conducted a scoping review to assess how risk of bias is evaluated in systematic reviews of observational vaccine effectiveness studies by 1) identifying the risk of bias tools used in systematic reviews of vaccine effectiveness, 2) summarizing how these tools were applied, and 3) recording any author-developed approaches to assess risk of bias and study quality. The results of this review will inform efforts to improve the quality of conducting and reporting vaccine effectiveness studies and systematic reviews.

Want to know more? Check out the study protocol here.