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. 2021 Oct;23(5):e13705.
doi: 10.1111/tid.13705. Epub 2021 Aug 3.

Clinical effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in solid organ transplant recipients

Saima Aslam  1 , Eric Adler  2 , Kristin Mekeel  3 , Susan J Little  1
Affiliations

Clinical effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in solid organ transplant recipients

Saima Aslam et al. Transpl Infect Dis. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Goal: We aimed to assess the incidence rate of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in vaccinated versus unvaccinated solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR) at our center.

Methods: We abstracted the following clinical data from our transplant registry from 1/1/2021 to 6/2/2021: demographics, details of COVID-19 vaccination, incidence of COVID-19, and related mortality. We calculated incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 per 1000/person days at risk and incidence rate ratio (IRR).

Results: Among 2151 SOTRs, 912 were fully vaccinated, and 1239 were controls (1151 unvaccinated, 88 partially vaccinated). Almost 70% of vaccinated subjects received the mRNA-1273 vaccine. There were 65 cases of COVID-19 that occurred during the study period - four occurred among fully vaccinated individuals and 61 among controls (including two in partially vaccinated individuals). Incidence rate for COVID-19 was 0.065 (95% CI 0.024-0.17) per 1000 person days in vaccinated versus 0.34 (95% CI 0.26-0.44) per 1000/person days in the control group; IRR was 0.19 (95% CI 0.049 -0.503, p < 0.005). There were no COVID-19 related deaths in the four breakthrough infections and two of 61 (3.3%) among controls.

Conclusion: We demonstrate real world clinical effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in SOTRs with an almost 80% reduction in the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 versus unvaccinated SOTRs during the same time.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Solid organ transplant; vaccine.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Kaplan–Meir curves demonstrating difference in cumulative probability of developing COVID‐19 in the control and vaccinated groups, along with 95% confidence intervals and p‐value of the associated log‐rank test
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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