Effectiveness of the Original Monovalent Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccines in Preventing Emergency Department or Urgent Care Encounters and Hospitalizations Among Adults With Disabilities: VISION Network, June 2021-September 2022

Palak Patel; Kristin E Schrader; Catherine E Rice; Elizabeth Rowley; Robyn A Cree; Malini B DeSilva; Peter J Embi; Manjusha Gaglani; Shaun J Grannis; Toan C Ong; Edward Stenehjem; Allison L Naleway; Sarah Ball; Karthik Natarajan; Nicola P Klein; Katherine Adams; Anupam Kharbanda; Caitlin Ray; Ruth Link-Gelles; Mark W Tenforde

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad474

Effectiveness of the Original Monovalent Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccines in Preventing Emergency Department or Urgent Care Encounters and Hospitalizations Among Adults With Disabilities: VISION Network, June 2021-September 2022

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Sep 29;10(11):ofad474. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad474. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Authors

Palak Patel¹, Kristin E Schrader², Catherine E Rice³, Elizabeth Rowley², Robyn A Cree³, Malini B DeSilva⁴, Peter J Embi⁵, Manjusha Gaglani^{6

7}, Shaun J Grannis^{8

9}, Toan C Ong¹⁰, Edward Stenehjem¹¹, Allison L Naleway¹², Sarah Ball², Karthik Natarajan^{13

14}, Nicola P Klein¹⁵, Katherine Adams¹, Anupam Kharbanda¹⁶, Caitlin Ray¹, Ruth Link-Gelles¹⁷, Mark W Tenforde¹

Affiliations

¹ Influenza Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
² Department of Clinical Research, Westat, Rockville, Maryland, USA.
³ Division of Human Development and Disability, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁴ Department of Research, Health Partners Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
⁶ Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor Scott & White Health, Temple, Texas, USA.
⁷ Department of Medical Education, Texas A&M University College of Medicine, Temple, Texas, USA.
⁸ Center for Biomedical Informatics, Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
⁹ School of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
¹⁰ School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
¹¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Epidemiology, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
¹² Department of Science Programs, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, Oregon, USA.
¹³ Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, NewYork, New York, USA.
¹⁴ Medical Informatics Services, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, NewYork, New York, USA.
¹⁵ Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, Oakland, California, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Emergency Medicine, Children's Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
¹⁷ Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Abstract

Adults with disabilities are at increased risk for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Using data across 9 states during Delta- and Omicron-predominant periods (June 2021-September 2022), we evaluated the effectiveness of the original monovalent COVID-19 messenger RNA vaccines among 521 206 emergency department/urgent care encounters (11 471 [2%] in patients with a documented disability) and 139 548 hospitalizations (16 569 [12%] in patients with a disability) for laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 illness in adults (aged ≥18 years). Across variant periods and for the primary series or booster doses, vaccine effectiveness was similar in those with and those without a disability. These findings highlight the importance of adults with disabilities staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations.

Keywords: COVID-19; disabilities; test-negative design; vaccine effectiveness.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America 2023.