COVID-19 Jabs Did the Job for Healthcare Workers – MedPage Today

COVID-19 infection was extremely rare among healthcare professionals in the U.S. and Israel following vaccination, researchers found.

Among healthcare workers in two University of California (UC) health systems who received their second vaccine dose at least 15 days previously, the overall positivity rate was 0.05%, reported Francesca Torriani, MD, of UC San Diego (UCSD), and colleagues.

The absolute risk for testing positive for COVID-19 ranged from 0.79% to 1.19% among the roughly 37,000 vaccinated healthcare workers in the two health systems, the authors wrote in an early edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Those figures include all those testing positive irrespective of how long after vaccination the workers were tested or how many doses they'd received. Of 379 positive tests, 270 came within 2 weeks of the first dose.

"The rarity of positive test results 14 days after administration of the second dose of vaccine is encouraging and suggests that the efficacy of vaccines is maintained outside the trial setting," the team noted.

Torriani and colleagues examined data from healthcare workers at the UCLA and UCSD health systems. In December, both health systems implemented policies to allow testing of healthcare workers. UCSD mandated that asymptomatic healthcare workers undergo weekly testing by PCR assay of nasal swabs on December 2, while UCLA instituted an optional testing program for asymptomatic healthcare workers with PCR assay of nasal swabs.

From the start of vaccination on Dec. 16, 2020 to Feb. 9, 2021, about 36,700 healthcare workers received the first dose of vaccine, and 77% of those received a second dose. As of Feb. 9, 5,455 healthcare workers at UCSD and 9,535 at UCLA received the second dose 2 or more weeks previously, and seven tested positive 15 or more days after the second vaccination.

These findings corresponded with another NEJM study out of Texas. Daniel Podolsky, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues found a 0.05% test positivity rate (95% CI 0.01-0.13), or a total of four of 8,121 fully vaccinated employees.

That team examined data from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center employees from Dec. 15, 2020 to Jan. 28, 2021. Of the 23,234 employees, 59% received a first dose of either mRNA vaccine, and 30% of those received a second dose.

In addition to low test positivity, Podolsky and colleagues noted that the number of positive tests among employees was "consistently lower" than the projected number among patients presenting to the emergency department with samples on hand tested via PCR assay.

"The effect of vaccination on our workforce has been dramatic," the authors wrote. "We observed a greater than 90% decrease in the number of employees who are either in isolation or quarantine."

These effects could even be seen overseas, as a third NEJM study focusing on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, by Ran Nir-Paz, MD, of Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, and colleagues, found that the weekly incidence of COVID-19 declined after the second week, and remained low after the fourth week.

That team examined data from 5,297 healthcare workers at a two-campus medical center who had not previously had COVID-19 and were vaccinated within 8 weeks, noting that nearly all healthcare workers who received a first dose and were not infected by day 21 received a second dose. Vaccination began on Dec. 20, 2020. At week 4, seven healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19, which dropped to zero to four workers in weeks 5-7.

Nir-Paz and colleagues noted that not only was the study conducted in an active hospital setting in a community with a high incidence of COVID-19, but it was during a time when the B.1.1.7 variant comprised 80% of cases in the community.

Molly Walker is an associate editor, who covers infectious diseases for MedPage Today. She has a passion for evidence, data and public health. Follow

Disclosures

Keehner disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Torriani disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Other co-authors disclosed various ties with industry.

One co-author disclosed a patent under development related to small molecular inhibitors of coronavirus replication.

Daniel and colleagues disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Benenson and colleagues disclosed no conflicts of interest.

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COVID-19 Jabs Did the Job for Healthcare Workers - MedPage Today