Scientific Reports (Feb 2021)

Exploratory analysis of immunization records highlights decreased SARS-CoV-2 rates in individuals with recent non-COVID-19 vaccinations

  • Colin Pawlowski,
  • Arjun Puranik,
  • Hari Bandi,
  • A. J. Venkatakrishnan,
  • Vineet Agarwal,
  • Richard Kennedy,
  • John C. O’Horo,
  • Gregory J. Gores,
  • Amy W. Williams,
  • John Halamka,
  • Andrew D. Badley,
  • Venky Soundararajan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83641-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 20

Abstract

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Abstract Clinical studies are ongoing to assess whether existing vaccines may afford protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection through trained immunity. In this exploratory study, we analyze immunization records from 137,037 individuals who received SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests. We find that polio, Haemophilus influenzae type-B (HIB), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), Varicella, pneumococcal conjugate (PCV13), Geriatric Flu, and hepatitis A/hepatitis B (HepA–HepB) vaccines administered in the past 1, 2, and 5 years are associated with decreased SARS-CoV-2 infection rates, even after adjusting for geographic SARS-CoV-2 incidence and testing rates, demographics, comorbidities, and number of other vaccinations. Furthermore, age, race/ethnicity, and blood group stratified analyses reveal significantly lower SARS-CoV-2 rate among black individuals who have taken the PCV13 vaccine, with relative risk of 0.45 at the 5 year time horizon (n: 653, 95% CI (0.32, 0.64), p-value: 6.9e−05). Overall, this study identifies existing approved vaccines which can be promising candidates for pre-clinical research and Randomized Clinical Trials towards combating COVID-19.