In order to investigate the benefit of vaccines against COVID-19, it is important to determine if someone who has been vaccinated develops a milder illness than someone who has not been vaccinated. To this end, a study was designed to evaluate the association between vaccination with an mRNA vaccine and hospitalization with COVID-19 infection, and those treated were assessed for the possibility of developing a serious illness.
The Doctors of the Therapeutic Clinic of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Theodora Psaltopoulou, Panos Malandrakis, Giannis Danasis and Thanos Dimopoulos (Rector of EKPA) summarize the publication on the JAMA Network.
Among the 4,513 patients treated (mean age 59 years, 48.8% women and 20.1% immunosuppressed), 1,983 had COVID-19 and 2,530 had another reason for hospitalization (control cases).
Among those treated with COVID-19 84.2% were unvaccinated. Hospitalization with COVID-19 was associated with a reduced likelihood of completing vaccination, both for the alpha and delta strains of the virus. This correlation was stronger in immunocompetent patients (11.2% vaccinated versus 53.5%) than in immunocompromised patients (40.1% versus 58.8%) and gradually less severe 4 months after vaccination with the vaccine. Pfizer (5.8% vs. 11.5%) and Moderna (1.9% vs. 8.3%).
Among 1,197 patients treated with COVID-19 in 11.9% were vaccinated. Compared to those who had not been vaccinated, those vaccinated were usually older and had comorbidities, and required less frequent ICU care (24.6% vs. 40.1%) and invasive mechanical ventilation (7.7% vs. 23%). Of these, the unvaccinated accounted for 93.9% of the cases that resulted in invasive mechanical ventilation and death.
In conclusion, these data support the protection of the vaccine with an mRNA vaccine against hospitalization and mortality from COVID-19 infection and are consistent with the data on reduced morbidity of vaccinated.
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