Takeaway
- In a cohort of healthcare workers in England, vaccine coverage was very high 2 months after the roll-out of approved COVID-19 vaccines in the UK.
- The BNT162b2 mRNA (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine reduced the incidence of asymptomatic and symptomatic infections in vaccinated vs unvaccinated healthcare workers.
Why this matters
- The findings emphasise the importance of vaccinating working-age adults to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infections.
Study details
- Interim analysis of the prospective SIREN study involving 23,324 healthcare workers and support staff (median age, 46.1 years) across 104 sites of publicly funded National Health Service hospitals in England.
- Funding: UK Department of Health and Social Care; Public Health England; National Institute for Health Research.
Key results
- By 5 February 2021, 89% of participants had received at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2, 94%; ChAdOx1, 6%) and 8% had received 2 doses (BNT162b2, 99.9%; ChAdOx1, 0.1%).
- During follow-up of 2 months, the incidence of COVID-19 decreased in the vaccinated vs unvaccinated cohort:
- unvaccinated: 14 infections/10,000 person-days;
- vaccinated, 21 days post-first dose: 8 infections/10,000 person-days; and
- vaccinated, 7 days post-second dose: 4 infections/10,000 person-days.
- The vaccine effectiveness of BNT162b2 against infection (symptomatic and asymptomatic) was
- 70% (95% CI, 55-85%) 21 days after the first dose; and
- 85% (95% CI, 74-96%) 7 days after the second dose.
Limitations
- Short follow-up period.
- Population may not be representative of all healthcare workers in the UK.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
