A big study of COVID-19 disease following vaccination and booster, published within the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), reports surprisingly low incidence, especially in individuals younger than 65 years of age with no high-risk conditions.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 disease amongst individuals who had received vaccines and boosters occurred almost exclusively amongst high-risk patients including older adults and adults of all ages with certain comorbidities or immunocompromising conditions.
This retrospective study of 1.6 million patients at Veterans Health Administration facilities, the most important integrated healthcare system within the U.S., found the incidence – recent cases over time — of hospitalization for COVID-19 pneumonia or death was 8.9 per 10,000 individuals who had been vaccinated and boosted. While the incidence for vaccinated and boosted older adults with comorbid or immunocompromising conditions was tenfold higher, it was still a comparatively low rate of occurrence of bad outcomes.
“That is remarkable, excellent news in regards to the power and effectiveness of receiving COVID-19 boosting for all groups,” said co-author Regenstrief Institute and Roudebush VA Medical Center research scientist Dawn Bravata, M.D., who led the study’s chart review core. “With the ability of VA data, we had such complete information on a lot of patients including many who’re older and people who have comorbidities or are immunocompromised, that we could examine this issue thoroughly.
These results, from a period of Delta and Omicron predominance, should encourage people to get vaccinated and boosted.”
Dr. Dawn Bravata, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine
To avoid misclassification of death or other serious outcomes as a result of COVID somewhat than to other health issues, the study authors rigorously evaluated patient medical records for breakthrough COVID-19, COVID-19 pneumonia and death, versus simply considering all hospitalizations amongst patients with a positive COVID-19 lab test.
“Early within the pandemic, many researchers, including our own group, published studies about COVID-19 hospitalizations. But we’re in a distinct era now when patients who’re admitted to the hospital with a non-COVID illness are screened; a few of whom will test positive. Evaluating outcomes equivalent to COVID-19 pneumonia or mortality – versus simply considering all hospitalization – makes more sense,” said Dr. Bravata.
Source:
Journal reference:
Daniel Kelly, J., et al. (2022) Incidence of Severe COVID-19 Illness Following Vaccination and Booster With BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, and Ad26.COV2.S Vaccines. JAMA. doi.org/10.1001/jama.2022.17985.