Frontiers in Public Health (Sep 2024)

Tracking temporal variations of fatality and symptomology correlated with COVID-19 dominant variants and vaccine effectiveness in the United States

  • Shao Lin,
  • Shao Lin,
  • Han Liu,
  • Quan Qi,
  • Ian Trees,
  • Donghong Gao,
  • Samantha Friedman,
  • Xiaobo Romeiko Xue,
  • David Lawrence,
  • David Lawrence

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1419886
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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IntroductionWe described how COVID-19 fatality and symptoms varied by dominant variant and vaccination in the US.MethodsUsing the Restricted Access Dataset from the US CDC (1/1/2020–10/20/2022), we conducted a cross-sectional study assessing differences in COVID-19 deaths, severity indicators (hospitalization, ICU, pneumonia, abnormal X-ray, acute respiratory distress syndrome, mechanical ventilation) and 12 mild symptoms by dominant variant/vaccination periods using logistic regression after controlling for confounders.ResultsWe found the highest fatality during the dominant periods of Wild (4.6%) and Delta (3.4%). Most severe symptoms appeared when Delta was dominant (Rate range: 2.0–9.4%). Omicron was associated with higher mild symptoms than other variants. Vaccination showed consistent protection against death and severe symptoms for most variants (Risk Ratio range: 0.41–0.93). Boosters, especially the second, provided additional protection, reducing severe symptoms by over 50%.DiscussionThis dataset may serve as a useful tool to monitor temporospatial changes of fatality and symptom for case management and surveillance.

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