COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness by Product and Timing in New York State

Background: US population-based data on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) for the 3 currently FDA- authorized products is limited. Whether declines in VE are due to waning immunity, the Delta variant, or other causes, is debated. Methods: We conducted a prospective study of 8,834,604 New York adults, comparing vaccine cohorts defined by product, age, and month of full-vaccination to age-specific unvaccinated cohorts, by linking statewide testing, hospital, and vaccine registry databases. VE was estimated from May 1, 2021 for incident laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases (weekly life-table hazard rates through September 3) and hospitalizations (monthly incidence rates through August 31). Results: 155,092 COVID-19 cases and 14,862 hospitalizations occurred. Estimated VE for cases declined contemporaneously across age, products, and time-cohorts, from high levels beginning May 1 (1.8% Delta variant prevalence), to a nadir around July 10 (85.3% Delta), with limited changes thereafter (>95% Delta). Decreases were greatest for Pfizer-BioNTech (-24.6%, -19.1%, -14.1% for 18-49, 50-64 years, and ≥65 years, respectively), and similar for Moderna (-18.0%, -11.6%, -9.0%, respectively) and Janssen (-19.2%, -10.8, -10.9%, respectively). VE for hospitalization for adults 18-64 years was >86% across cohorts, without time trend. Among persons ≥65 years, VE declined from May to August for Pfizer-BioNTech (95.0% to 89.2%) and Moderna (97.2% to 94.1%). VE was lower for Janssen, without trend, ranging 85.5%-82.8%. Conclusions: Declines in VE for cases may have been primarily driven by factors other than waning. VE for hospitalizations remained high, with modest declines limited to Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna recipients ≥65 years, supporting targeted booster dosing recommendations.

Variant-of-concern-attributable health and health system-related outcomes: a population-level propensity-score matched cohort study

Background: As the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants intensifies globally, the burden of COVID-19 on the already strained health systems is becoming increasingly concerning. While there is growing literature on the effects of various variants-of-concern (VOC) on increased transmission, the extent to which VOCs may lead to more severe disease remains debated. Methods: In the current analysis, we use a population-based propensity-score matched cohort study of all incident laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases with VOC testing in Ontario, Canada to estimate healthcare resource use and health outcomes attributable to VOCs introduced to Ontario between January 1 and April 9, 2021, relative to the previously circulating wild-type strain. Results: We find that VOCs are associated with a higher odds of hospitalisation (odds ratio [OR], 2.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.10-2.40) and ICU admission (OR, 3.31; 95%CI, 2.84-3.86); as well as with a higher odds of mortality for both the general COVID-19 population (OR 1.75; 1.47-2.09) and hospitalised cases (OR, 1.62; 95%CI, 1.23-2.15). Conclusion: Taken together, these findings suggest that health systems may face increased demand for healthcare resources as VOCs predominate worldwide in view of low global vaccination coverage.

STRONG ABSORPTION ANALYSIS OF ELASTIC SCATTERING REACTIONS USING McINTYRE AND FRAHN–VENTER MODELS

The Frahn–Venter and McIntyre models are employed to analyze the experimental data of a set of elastic scattering reactions for heavy ions. The existence of semi-classical phenomena such as Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction patterns has been obtained by analyzing the experimental data of a set of elastic scattering reactions 12 C + 28 Si at laboratory energies 24.0, 49.3, 70.0, 83.5, and 186.4 MeV, 16 O + 28 Si at laboratory energies 72.0, 141.5, and 215.0 MeV, 16 O + 16 O at laboratory energies 145.0 and 350.0 MeV, 16 O + 12 C at laboratory energies 128.0 and 168.0 MeV; 12 C + 12 C at laboratory energies 89.7, 93.8, 105.0, 112.0, 117.1, 121.6, 126.7, and 158.8 MeV. The theoretical models can reasonably reproduce the general pattern of the data, thus allowing us to extract important parameters from elastic scattering processes. Deviations of some reproduced results from experimental data may be attributed to weak absorption. It is found that interpretation of the diffraction features of the data is model-independent. The values of extracted parameters, from both models, are found comparable to each other and to those of others. The correlation between the total reaction cross-section and the incident laboratory energy for each scattering is discernible and comparable with those of others.

A Study Of The Reaction 12C+12C

The reaction 120 +120 has been studied at an incident laboratory energy of 123 MeV. Angular distributions of the emitted oc-particles and protons have been obtained. These angular distributions yielded values of 2�6 �O �3 barnsr and 1�5 �O . 2 barns for the total cross sections for oc-particle and proton production respectively.