Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Apr;21(4):435-451.
doi: 10.1080/14760584.2022.2035222. Epub 2022 Feb 3.

COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness among immunocompromised populations: a targeted literature review of real-world studies

Manuela Di Fusco  1 , Jay Lin  2 , Shailja Vaghela  3 , Melissa Lingohr-Smith  2 , Jennifer L Nguyen  1 , Thomas Scassellati Sforzolini  1 , Jennifer Judy  1 , Alejandro Cane  1 , Mary M Moran  4
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness among immunocompromised populations: a targeted literature review of real-world studies

Manuela Di Fusco et al. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Introduction: From July through October of 2021, several countries issued recommendations for increased COVID-19 vaccine protection for individuals with one or more immunocompromised (IC) conditions. It is critically important to understand the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of COVID-19 vaccines among IC populations as recommendations are updated over time in response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

Areas covered: A targeted literature review was conducted to identify real-world studies that assessed COVID-19 VE in IC populations between December 2020 and September 2021. A total of 10 studies from four countries were identified and summarized in this review.

Expert opinion: VE of the widely available COVID-19 vaccines, including BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech), mRNA-1273 (Moderna), Ad26.COV2.S (Janssen), and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford/AstraZeneca), ranged from 64% to 90% against SARS-CoV-2 infection, 73% to 84% against symptomatic illness, 70% to 100% against severe illness, and 63% to 100% against COVID-19-related hospitalization among the fully vaccinated IC populations included in the studies. COVID-19 VE for most outcomes in the IC populations included in these studies were lower than in the general populations. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the IC population requires greater protective measures to prevent COVID-19 infection and associated illness, hence should be prioritized while implementing recommendations of additional COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccines; COVID-19-related hospitalization; SARS-CoV-2 infection; immunocompromised; symptomatic COVID-19 illness; vaccine effectiveness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
VE against SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptomatic COVID-19 illness, and COVID-19-related hospitalization in IC populations versus general populationsa.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. OurWorldinData.org [Internet] . Statistics and research: coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations. London (England): Oxford; [cited 2021 Sep 30]. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
    1. Cdc.gov [Internet] . Atlanta (GA): centers for disease control and prevention. Science brief: COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination. Updated 2021 Sep 15. cited 2021 Oct 19]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/fully-v.... - PubMed
    1. Henry DA, Jones MA, Stehlik P, et al. Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines: findings from real-world studies. Med J Aust. 2021;215(4):149–151e1. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Polack FP, Thomas SJ, Kitchin N, et al., Safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(27): 2603–2615. - PMC - PubMed

    2. • Of importance: a clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy

    1. Baden LR, El Sahly HM, Essink B, et al., Efficacy and safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(5): 403–416. - PMC - PubMed

    2. • Of importance: a clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy

Publication types