BNT162b2 vaccine effectiveness was marginally affected by the SARS-CoV-2 beta variant in fully vaccinated individuals.
J Clin Epidemiol
; 142: 38-44, 2022 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1487821
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate the effectiveness of the Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine against the SARS-Cov-2 Beta variant. STUDY DESIGN ANDSETTING:
Israel's mass vaccination program, using two doses of the Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine, successfully curtailed the Alpha variant outbreak during winter 2020-2021, However, the virus may mutate and partially evade the immune system. To monitor this, sequencing of selected positive swab samples of interest was initiated. Comparing vaccinated with unvaccinated PCR positive persons, we estimated the odds ratio for a vaccinated case to have the Beta vs. the Alpha variant, using logistic regression, controlling for important confounders.RESULTS:
There were 19 cases of Beta variant (3.2%) among those vaccinated more than 14 days before the positive sample and 79 (3.4%) among the unvaccinated. The estimated odds ratio was 1.26 (95% CI 0.65-2.46). Assuming the effectiveness against the Alpha variant to be 95%, the estimated effectiveness against the Beta variant was 94% (95% CI 88%-98%).CONCLUSION:
Despite concerns over the Beta variant, the BNT162b2 vaccine seemed to provide substantial immunity against both the Beta and the Alpha variants. From 14 days following the second vaccine dose, the effectiveness of BNT162b2 vaccine was at most marginally affected by the Beta variant.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
RNA, Viral
/
Sequence Analysis, RNA
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
BNT162 Vaccine
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Vaccines
/
Variants
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
J Clin Epidemiol
Journal subject:
Epidemiology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.jclinepi.2021.10.011
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