COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Studies against Symptomatic and Severe Outcomes during the Omicron Period in Four Countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
Published in Vaccines, 2024
Runge, M.; Karimian, Z.; Kheirandish, M.; Borghi, G.; Wodniak, N.; Fahmy, K.; Mantel, C.; Cherian, T.; Nabil Ahmed Said, Z.; Najafi, F.; et al. COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Studies against Symptomatic and Severe Outcomes during the Omicron Period in Four Countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Vaccines 2024, 12, 906. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12080906
Vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies conducted between June 2021 and August 2023 in Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, and Jordan assessed the real-world performance of COVID-19 vaccines across different clinical outcomes. The studies found that for health workers, an additional mRNA vaccine dose showed substantial protection against symptomatic infection, while results for other vaccines and outcomes were inconclusive. Among severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) patients, VE of a complete primary series against hospitalization was modest, highlighting the need for future VE studies to overcome late-pandemic design challenges and leverage improved country capacities. Download paper here