The Effectiveness of Post-Vaccination and Post-Infection Protection in the Hospital Staff of Three Prague Hospitals: A Cohort Study of 8-Month Follow-Up from the Start of the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign (COVANESS)

Continuous assessment of the effectiveness of approved COVID-19 vaccines is crucial to gain an insight into the longer-term impact on health outcomes, and eventually boosting public confidence. For this reason, we conducted a multicenter, retrospective cohort study using data on infection and vaccination rates among employees of three Prague hospitals in the period between 27 December 2020 and 31 August 2021. The post-vaccination and post-infection protectiveness were assessed in a total of 11,443 hospital workers who were followed up for more than 14 days either after their Comirnaty vaccination or study enrolment, depending on their previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. The effectiveness of full vaccination against any SARS-CoV-2 infection achieved 88.3% (83.2–91.8%) over the eight months of follow-up, a figure not much different from the 92.5% (76.5–97.6%) level of protection built by a previous infection. Despite this, the post-vaccination level of protection declined to about 65% between June and August. No case of breakthrough infection was registered among hospital workers having received one or two vaccine doses more than three months after previous infection. The eight-month effectiveness of the Comirnaty vaccine exhibited a declining trend requiring a new booster dose. The need for vaccination in the previously infected employees was not demonstrated conclusively in this study.

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Investigating Adherence to COVID-19 Vaccination and Serum Antibody Concentration among Hospital Workers—The Experience of an Italian Private Hospital

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9111332 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 1332

Author(s):

Guglielmo Forgeschi ◽

Giuseppe Cavallo ◽

Chiara Lorini ◽

Fiamma Balboni ◽

Francesca Sequi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthcare Workers ◽

Private Hospital ◽

Serum Antibody ◽

Hospital Staff ◽

Antibody Concentration ◽

Hospital Workers ◽

A Value ◽

Previous Infection ◽

Duration Of Protection ◽

Antibody Levels

SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been high, especially among healthcare workers worldwide during the first wave. Vaccination is recognized as the most effective approach to combat the pandemic, but hesitation to get vaccinated represents an obstacle. Another important issue is the duration of protection after administration of the full vaccination cycle. Based on these premises, we conducted a study to evaluate vaccination adherence and the anti-S antibodies levels among hospital workers, from January to March, 2021. To assess adherence, an anonymous questionnaire was used. Anti-S antibody levels were obtained from the monitoring serological sample database. In total, 56.2% of the unvaccinated people did not report a previous infection from COVID-19. Among those who have not been vaccinated, 12.5% showed distrust against the vaccine, 8.3% stated to have received contraindications to the vaccination, and 6.3% did not report any choice. Analyzing anti-S antibody levels, only one person was found to have a value below the lower cut-off, two weeks, and three months after receiving their second dose. One was below the cut-off after two weeks, and then above the same cut-off after three months. The results of our survey should be seen as a stimulus to further sensitize hospital staff to the importance of vaccination and pay attention to anti-S antibody levels monitoring.

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Adherence and Concordance of Influenza and Pertussis Vaccination Coverage in Pregnant Women in Spain

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16040543 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 543 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Noelia Rodríguez-Blanco ◽

José Tuells ◽

Rafael Vila-Candel ◽

Andreu Nolasco

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Pregnant Women ◽

Vaccination Coverage ◽

Prospective Cohort ◽

Vaccination Campaign ◽

Kappa Index ◽

Immunisation Coverage ◽

Professional Advice ◽

Kappa Agreement

Background: Pregnant women should receive two vaccines during pregnancy due to maternal-foetal complications and risks as well as the influenza and pertussis vaccinations. The goal was to evaluate vaccination coverage against influenza and pertussis in pregnant women, following midwife professional advice during the pregnancy follow-up; Methods: Prospective cohort study of 1017 pregnancies during the vaccination campaign in 2015–2016. To estimate the degree of consistency between the coverage declared by mothers and that registered in the Nominal Vaccination Registry (NVR), we used the Cohen’s kappa index (k); Results: 95.4% were registered in the NVR. Vaccination coverage recorded against influenza was 64.2% (95% CI: 61.2–67.2), and 89.8% (95% CI: 87.9–91.7) against pertussis. The coverage of the pregnant women interviewed was 61.7% (95% CI: 58.1–67.3)) for influenza and 92.3% (95% CI: 91.4–95.3) for pertussis. Subsequent interviews of 67.2% of the women produced a kappa agreement index between the data obtained from interviews and those recorded in the NVR of 0.974 (IC95%: 98.0–99.6) for influenza, and 0.921 (IC95%: 98.1–99.7) for pertussis. The women identified midwives as the main source of vaccination information and advice 88.4% (IC95%: 85.8–90.9); Conclusions: The NVR is an effective platform for estimating immunisation coverage in pregnant women. The degree of agreement between declared vaccinations and registered vaccinations was high for both vaccines.

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