The recently updated COVID vaccines showed protection against serious virus-related outcomes in immunocompetent adults, data from the CDC’s IVY and VISION networks showed.
From September 2023 to January 2024, vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-related emergency room or urgent care visits was 47% (95% CI 44-50), while coverage against coronavirus-associated hospitalizations ranged from 43% (95% CI 44-50). 27-56) to 52% (95% CI: 47-57), reported Jennifer DeCuir, MD, PhD, CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and colleagues.
“The comparison group included both unvaccinated persons and persons who had received original monovalent or bivalent doses only,” the researchers wrote in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. “Thus, these results support current CDC recommendations for updated COVID-19 vaccination, including among persons who have previously received original monovalent or bivalent COVID-19 vaccines and those who have never been vaccinated, irrespective of previous infection history.”
In September 2023, the FDA and CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices approved the 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccines for adults and children 6 months of age and older. The updated vaccines were designed to target the XBB. 1. 5 Omicron subvariant founded on recommendations from FDA staff and outside advisers.
But vaccine acceptance is low: The CDC’s most recent estimates show that 22% of American adults have received the newer vaccines, adding to 42% of adults 65 and older.
The current study included data from 369 emergency departments and urgent care clinics and 229 hospitals across eight states in VISION (Virtual SARS-CoV-2, Influenza, and Other respiratory viruses Network), along with 26 hospitals in 20 states in the IVY (Investigating Respiratory Viruses in the Acutely Ill) network.
The analysis of emergency room and urgent care visits included 128,825 adults (average age 52, 61% female, 64% Caucasian) who visited services within VISION for COVID-like illness, adding 17,229 patients (those who tested positive for SARS-CoV). . -2 tests) and 111,596 controls (those who obtained a negative SARS-CoV-2 test). In total, 8% of patients and 12% of controls had obtained the 2023-2024 COVID vaccine dose.
Among all adults, emergency room and urgent care visits for EVs were slightly higher among those who received the vaccine between 7 and 59 days earlier than among those who received the vaccine between 60 and 119 days earlier (51% vs. 39%, respectively). Protection was higher for adults aged 18 to 64 years than for adults aged 65 years and older (50% vs. 45%).
The COVID-related hospitalizations investigation included 37,503 hospitalizations (mean age 71, 54% female, 71% white) from the VISION network (including 4,589 patients) and 4,117 hospitalizations (average age 68, 52% female, 57% white. ) of the IVY network (including 1,194 patient cases).
In the VISION subset, 9% of case patients and 13% of controls had received the 2023-2024 vaccine. VE against COVID-related hospitalizations was higher in the first 7 to 59 days after vaccination compared to 60 to 119 days after vaccination. (53% vs. 50%). Interestingly, VE was higher in older patients aged 65 years or older than in adults younger than 65 years (53% vs. 43%).
In the IVY subset, 8% of patients and 12% of controls had received the updated vaccine. Here, VE supported by COVID-related hospitalizations was again higher among people 65 and older (48% vs. 43%). funded in time as vaccination was not available.
“Despite different populations, methods, and outcomes, estimates of the effectiveness of updated COVID-19 vaccines were aligned across the VISION and IVY analyses,” the researchers wrote. “VE estimates were also similar to those recently published from another CDC VE platform, which measured VE against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, and to a United Kingdom report, which measured VE against hospitalization among patients aged ≥65 years.”
Whole genome sequencing data on 952 IVY samples showed that 16% had spike proteins similar to XBB. 1. 5, 58% had spike proteins similar to EG. 5, 20% had spike proteins similar to HK. 3, and 6% had JN. 1. -like spike proteins, a descendant of BA. 2. 86 with more than 30 substitutions in the spike protein to XBB. 1. 5, “some of which may be related to immune leakage,” DeCuir and colleagues noted. As of early January, JN. 1 accounted for about two-thirds of the lines in circulation in the United States.
Ian Ingram is Managing Editor at MedPage Today and helps cover oncology for the site.
DeCuir had no disclosures. Co-authors disclosed relationships with 4DMedical, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, Biomeme, Bluejay Diagnostics, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Dompe Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly, the FDA, Flu Lab, GSK, Intermountain Research and Medical Foundation, Janssen, Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Merck, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine, Pfizer, PureTech Health, Regeneron, Roche, Sanofi Pasteur, SeaStar, Seqirus, Syneos Health, the Texas Pediatric Society, and the Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.