Initial impact of SARS-Cov-2 vaccination on healthcare workers in Italy– Update on the 28th of March 2021

Alberto Mateo-Urdiales,Martina Del Manso,Xanthi Andrianou,Matteo Spuri,Fortunato D'Ancona,Antonietta Filia,Maria Cristina Rota,Daniele Petrone,Maria Fenicia Vescio,Flavia Riccardo,Antonino Bella,Patrizio Pezzotti,Massimo Fabiani

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.07.003

Abstract

In Italy, the COVID-19 vaccination campaign started in December 2020 with the vaccination of healthcare workers (HCW). To analyse the real-life impact that vaccination is having on this population group, we measured the association between week of diagnosis and HCW status using log-binomial regression. By the week 22–28 March, we observed a 74% reduction (PPR 0.26; 95% CI 0.22–0.29) in the proportion of cases reported as HCW and 81% reduction in the proportion of symptomatic cases reported as HCW, compared with the week with the lowest proportion of cases among HCWs prior to the vaccination campaign (31 August-7 September). The reduction, both in relative and absolute terms, of COVID-19 cases in HCWs that started around 30 days after the start of the vaccination campaign suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are being effective in preventing infection in this group.

Highlights

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to affect European countries despite the wide range of interventions implemented since early 2020
From December 2020 to March 2021, 2.98 million vaccine doses were administered to health care workers (HCW), 93.3% of which BioNTech-Pfizer vaccines, 4.4% Oxford-AstraZeneca and 2.2% Moderna
The two curves started to diverge at the end of January, approximately 30 days after the start of the vaccination campaign, with the number of cases reported as HCWs decreasing and non-HCWs remaining stable until mid-February

Summary

Introduction

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to affect European countries despite the wide range of interventions implemented since early 2020. One of the most affected countries has been Italy with 3.4 million people diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection and over 106,000 associated deaths recorded up to 28 March 2021 [1]. By March 2021, four vaccines have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and licensed for use in Italy: BNT162b2 (BioNTech-Pfizer) [2], mRNA-1273 (Moderna) [3], Oxford–AstraZeneca [4] and Ad26.COV2.S (Johnson & Johnson) [5]. A two-dose vaccination strategy is being used, in accordance with the summary of product characteristics of the specific vaccines, which recommends an interval of 21 days for the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine,

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Discussion

Conclusion