Long-term effectiveness of an ultra-rapid rollout vaccination campaign with BNT162b2 on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• Health sciences
• Virology
• Public health