ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The development of COVID-19 vaccines was the turning point of the ongoing pandemic. The Aim of this study is to describe the course of vaccination programme in Poland and effectiveness of BNT162b2 vaccine. OBJECTIVE: The aim of study was to analyze vaccination rates and effectiveness stratified by age groups in Poland. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective study based on the data on vaccination rate and survival status among Polish citizens obtained from registries kept by the Polish Ministry of Health, the Statistics Poland and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The data were collected between week 53 of 2020 and week 3 of 2022. The final analysis included patients who were either not vaccinated at all or fully vaccinated with the BNT162b2 vaccine. RESULTS: The database contained records of 36,362,777 individuals among whom 14,441,506 (39.71%) were fully vaccinated with the BNT162b2 vaccine and 14,220,548 (39.11%) were not vaccinated at all. The weekly average effectiveness of BNT162b2 vaccine on preventing death was 92.62% and varied from 89.08% for ≥80 year olds to 100% for individuals at 5-17 years of age. The mortality rate was significantly higher in unvaccinated group compared to the fully vaccinated group in the entire cohort (447.9 per 100 000 vs. 43.76 per 100 000, P<0.001) in all age categories. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the study confirm high effectiveness of BNT162b2 vaccine in preventing COVID-19 deaths in all analyzed age groups.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: In Poland, like in many other countries, guidelines and certain restrictions were introduced in order to reduce the impact of the pandemic and curb the spread of the virus. These related to such behaviours as washing and disinfecting hands, wearing face masks in designated places, keeping social distance and frequently ventilating rooms. However, not all people follow the guidelines, which can lead to both health and social ramifications. The key objective of this study was an in-depth analysis of how safety rules (SR) were complied with in Poland during the initial pandemic period before the vaccines were rolled out, as well as determining factors that could affect the compliance with SR. METHODS: The study was conducted in the form of a series of cross-sectional surveys using the CATI method on a representative Polish sample in 8 rounds of interviews. Random sampling was applied. The first round was carried out from 2 to 6 July 2020, the last from 17 to 21 August 2020. The authors' original survey questionnaire was used. Factors affecting the compliance with SR were analysed using the multivariate logistic regression method on a combined group of participants from all the study rounds. RESULTS: In total, 4,800 subjects participated in the study, of which 2,512 were women (52.3%) and 2,288 were men (47.7%). Compliance with guidelines was defined based on four survey questions relating to: disinfecting hands when not at home, not touching items with bare hands when not at home, wearing face masks or covering mouth and nose, as well as washing hands after coming back home. Two affirmative answers to these questions or wearing a face mask alone (covering mouth and nose) were interpreted as compliance with SR. SR were more frequently followed by women OR=1.234 95% CI (0.988-1.543), persons over the age of 65 OR=2.098 95% CI (1.409-3.122), people with university education OR=1.315 95% CI (0.950-1.820) and residents of large cities OR=2.179 95% CI (1.382-3.437). Factors that supported compliance with SR were older age, fear of contracting COVID-19 and knowledge of SR. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: During the first wave of the pandemic, the SR compliance level was high. Nevertheless, the study identified social groups with a higher risk of non-compliance. This indicates a need for properly addressing communication to these groups, especially that, as was demonstrated, the knowledge alone of pandemic-related messages significantly increased the likelihood of following SR and restrictions. The study of infection-preventing behaviours and their context may provide essential information to guide public policies and communication strategies that would support these behaviours in order to control the spread of the virus more effectively.