Long-term effectiveness of an ultra-rapid rollout vaccination campaign with BNT162b2 on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection
Lena Tschiderer,
Hanna Innerhofer,
Lisa Seekircher,
Lisa Waltle,
Lukas Richter,
Janine Kimpel,
Cornelia Lass-Flörl,
Lukas Forer,
Sebastian Schönherr,
David A. Larsen,
Florian Krammer,
Sabine Embacher-Aichhorn,
Herbert Tilg,
Günter Weiss,
Franz Allerberger,
Peter Willeit
Affiliations
Lena Tschiderer
Institute of Clinical Epidemiology, Public Health, Health Economics, Medical Statistics and Informatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Hanna Innerhofer
Institute of Clinical Epidemiology, Public Health, Health Economics, Medical Statistics and Informatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Lisa Seekircher
Institute of Clinical Epidemiology, Public Health, Health Economics, Medical Statistics and Informatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Lisa Waltle
Institute of Clinical Epidemiology, Public Health, Health Economics, Medical Statistics and Informatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Lukas Richter
Institute of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, 1220 Vienna, Austria
Janine Kimpel
Institute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Cornelia Lass-Flörl
Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Lukas Forer
Institute of Genetic Epidemiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Sebastian Schönherr
Institute of Genetic Epidemiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
David A. Larsen
Department of Public Health, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
Florian Krammer
Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Center for Vaccine Research and Pandemic Preparedness (C-VaRPP), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-Based Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Ignaz Semmelweis Institute, Interuniversity Institute for Infection Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Sabine Embacher-Aichhorn
Clinical Trial Center, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Herbert Tilg
Department of Internal Medicine I, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Günter Weiss
Department of Internal Medicine II, Infectious Diseases, Immunology, Pneumology and Rheumatology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Franz Allerberger
Institute of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, 1220 Vienna, Austria
Peter Willeit
Institute of Clinical Epidemiology, Public Health, Health Economics, Medical Statistics and Informatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria; Ignaz Semmelweis Institute, Interuniversity Institute for Infection Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB1 8RN, UK; Corresponding author
Summary: In 2021, an ultra-rapid rollout vaccination campaign in the Schwaz district, Tyrol, Austria, delivered the COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 to 66.9% of eligible residents (dose 1: March 11–16, dose 2: April 8–13). Alongside the campaign, we recruited 11,955 residents into the prospective study REDUCE, of whom 3,859 participated in a booster vaccination initiative (November 20–28, 2021). Over a 24-month follow-up, 1,672 participants had incident RT-PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2. Compared to other Tyrolean districts, effectiveness in reducing SARS-CoV-2 infection at months 1–9 versus months 10–24 was 81.6% (95% CI 80.0–83.2%; hazard ratio 0.18 [0.17–0.20]) versus 38.2% (35.8–40.6%; 0.62 [0.59–0.64]) among REDUCE participants, and 22.5% (20.5–24.4%; 0.78 [0.76–0.80]) versus 17.0% (16.2–17.8%; 0.83 [0.82–0.84]) in the entire Schwaz district, with substantial variability during follow-up. By March 2023, 61% of Schwaz residents had received booster vaccination versus 55% in other Tyrolean districts. Consequently, vaccinating individuals at high pace effectively reduced SARS-CoV-2 infections and achieved higher vaccination coverage.
