Ultra-rapid rollout vaccination with BNT162b2 to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infections in the general population

Lena Tschiderer; Lisa Seekircher; Lukas Richter; Dorothee von Laer; Cornelia Lass-Flörl; Lukas Forer; Sebastian Schönherr; Florian Krammer; Sabine Embacher-Aichhorn; Herbert Tilg; Günter Weiss; Franz Allerberger; Peter Willeit

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105380

Ultra-rapid rollout vaccination with BNT162b2 to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infections in the general population

iScience. 2022 Nov 18;25(11):105380. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105380. Epub 2022 Nov 7.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Health Economics, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
² Institute of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, 1220 Vienna, Austria.
³ Institute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
⁴ Department of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
⁵ Institute of Genetic Epidemiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
⁶ Department of Microbiology and Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell Based Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029-5674, USA.
⁷ Clinical Trial Center, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
⁸ Department of Internal Medicine I, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
⁹ Department of Internal Medicine II, Infectious Diseases, Immunology, Pneumology and Rheumatology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
¹⁰ Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB1 8RN, UK.

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the impact of ultra-rapid rollout vaccination on incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vaccination with BNT162b2 was provided to 66.9% of eligible residents of the Schwaz district in Tyrol, Austria, within six days per dose (first dose: 11-16 March 2021, second dose: 8-13 April 2021). Of 11,955 individuals enrolled at nine vaccination centers (median age 44.6 years; 51.3% female), 71 had incident SARS-CoV-2 over a six-month follow-up. Incidence rates per 100,000 person-weeks were 92.3 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 70.8-120.2) at weeks 1-5 and 6.4 (3.9-10.4) at ≥6 weeks after dose 1. In these two periods, effectiveness of the vaccination campaign to reduce incident SARS-CoV-2 was 58.6% (50.8%-65.2%) and 91.1% (89.6%-92.3%) in study participants and 28.3% (23.1%-33.0%) and 64.0% (61.7%-66.1%) in the Schwaz district, compared with districts with slower vaccination rollout. Therefore, the vaccination campaign in the Schwaz district illustrates the impact of accelerated vaccination rollout in controlling the pandemic.

Keywords: Health sciences; Immunology; Population.