European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Fellowship Programme, Field Epidemiology path (EPIET), ECDC, Stockholm, Sweden.
Health Service Executive-Health Protection Surveillance Centre, Dublin, Ireland.
Euro Surveill. 2024 Jul;29(28). doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.28.2300697.
BackgroundAs Ireland prepared for an autumn 2023 COVID-19 vaccination booster campaign, there was concern that vaccine fatigue would affect uptake, which has been abating.AimThis study aimed to quantify the direct impact of the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Ireland on averted COVID-19-related outcomes including symptomatic presentations to primary care/community testing centres, emergency department (ED) presentations, hospitalisations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and deaths, in individuals aged ≥ 50 years, during Omicron dominance.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational COVID-19 vaccine impact study in December 2021-March 2023 in Ireland. We used national data on notified outcomes and vaccine coverage, as well as vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates, sourced from the World Health Organization's live systematic review of VE, to estimate the count and prevented fraction of outcomes in ≥ 50-year-olds averted by the COVID-19 vaccination programme in this age group.ResultsThe COVID-19 vaccination programme averted 48,551 symptomatic COVID-19 presentations to primary care/community testing centres (36% of cases expected in the absence of vaccination), 9,517 ED presentations (53% of expected), 102,160 hospitalisations (81% of expected), 3,303 ICU admissions (89% of expected) and 15,985 deaths (87% of expected).ConclusionsWhen Omicron predominated, the COVID-19 vaccination programme averted symptomatic and severe COVID-19 cases, including deaths due to COVID-19. In line with other international vaccine impact studies, these findings emphasise the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination for population health and the healthcare system and are relevant for informing COVID-19 booster vaccination programmes, pandemic preparedness and communicating the reason for and importance of COVID-19 vaccination in Ireland and internationally.
背景
随着爱尔兰为 2023 年秋季的 COVID-19 疫苗加强针接种活动做准备，人们担心疫苗疲劳会影响接种率，而接种率一直在下降。
目的
本研究旨在量化爱尔兰 COVID-19 疫苗接种计划对避免 COVID-19 相关结果的直接影响，这些结果包括在 50 岁及以上人群中出现有症状的初级保健/社区检测中心就诊、急诊（ED）就诊、住院、重症监护病房（ICU）入院和死亡，这些结果与 Omicron 主导期间有关。
方法
我们在 2021 年 12 月至 2023 年 3 月期间在爱尔兰进行了一项回顾性观察性 COVID-19 疫苗影响研究。我们使用了来自世界卫生组织对疫苗有效性（VE）实时系统评价的全国性通知结果和疫苗接种覆盖率数据，以及 VE 估计值，来估计该年龄组 COVID-19 疫苗接种计划在避免 50 岁及以上人群出现 COVID-19 症状性就诊方面的结果数量和预防比例。
结果
COVID-19 疫苗接种计划避免了 48551 例有症状的 COVID-19 就诊于初级保健/社区检测中心（如果没有接种疫苗，预计会出现 36%的病例），9517 例 ED 就诊（预计会出现 53%），102160 例住院（预计会出现 81%），3303 例 ICU 入院（预计会出现 89%）和 15985 例死亡（预计会出现 87%）。
结论
当 Omicron 占主导地位时，COVID-19 疫苗接种计划避免了 COVID-19 症状性和严重性病例，包括因 COVID-19 导致的死亡。与其他国际疫苗影响研究一致，这些发现强调了 COVID-19 疫苗接种对人群健康和医疗系统的益处，这对于为 COVID-19 加强针接种计划、大流行准备以及在爱尔兰和国际上为 COVID-19 接种的原因和重要性提供信息是相关的。
