Association between Influenza Vaccination and severe COVID-19 outcomes at a designated COVID-only hospital in Brooklyn

Abstract

Maintaining influenza vaccination at high coverage has the potential to prevent a proportion of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. We examined whether flu-vaccination is associated with severe corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease, as measured by intensive care unit (ICU)-admission, ventilator-use, and mortality. Other outcome measures included hospital length of stay and total ICU days. Our findings showed that flu-vaccination was associated with a significantly reduced likelihood of an ICU admission especially among aged <65 and non-obese patients. Public health promotion of flu-vaccination may help mitigate the overwhelming demand for critical COVID-19 care pending the large-scale availability of COVID-19 vaccines.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 mortality; COVID-19 severity; Coronavirus; Influenza; Vaccination.