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
. 2022 Aug;47(4):598-603.
doi: 10.1007/s10900-022-01082-8. Epub 2022 Mar 25.

A SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak Among Nursing Home Residents Vaccinated with a Booster Dose of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

Giancarlo Ripabelli  1   2 , Michela Lucia Sammarco  3 , Giovanni Rezza  4 , Antonio D'Amico  5 , Roberta De Dona  5 , Mariagrazia Iafigliola  5 , Albino Parente  5 , Nicandro Samprati  5 , Arturo Santagata  5 , Carmen Adesso  5 , Anna Natale  5 , Michela Anna Di Palma  5 , Fabio Cannizzaro  5 , Cosimo Dentizzi  6 , Paola Stefanelli  7 , Manuela Tamburro  3
Affiliations

A SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak Among Nursing Home Residents Vaccinated with a Booster Dose of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

Giancarlo Ripabelli et al. J Community Health. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

This study describes a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak caused by the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant in a nursing home in Central Italy during October-November 2021. Trained interviewers collected data from residents, staff, and administration officers with an agreed informed consent procedure. Thirty-two (44.5%) out of 72 residents (median age 89 years) and six (26.1%) of 23 healthcare workers were found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2. Infections occurred more often among residents with a higher index of independence in daily living activities, suggesting an increased risk for those with more interactions. Twenty-five infected residents (78.1%) received the booster dose of mRNA anti-COVID-19 vaccine > 7 days before SARS-CoV-2 onset. Half of the infected residents had mild symptoms, and only three required hospitalisation, one of whom died from COVID-19 complications. The study underlines the effectiveness of a booster dose in providing a high protection against severe disease and hospitalisation even among vulnerable individuals infected with the Delta variant of concern.

Keywords: COVID-19; Elderly; Impact of vaccination; Mild disease; Third dose.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The Authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Time (days) interval from date of third vaccine dose administration and positive result to molecular SARS-CoV-2 testing. Of note, 25 out of 32 infected residents had received the booster dose COVID-19 vaccine before outbreak, excluding four deceased subjects, and three residents who had not yet received the booster shot at time of testing because of time interval required; subject 1 received the third dose four days after the other residents
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Arrangement of residents at tables in the canteen in relation with status of SARS-CoV-2 infection and ADL groups. Black (A) and grey (B) squares correspond to high and low incidence areas of SARS-CoV-2 infections
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ouslander JG, Grabowski DC. COVID-19 in nursing homes: Calming the perfect storm. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2020;68(10):2153–2162. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16784. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Istituto Superiore di Sanità. (2021). Report nazionale sorveglianza strutture residenziali socio-sanitarie nell’emergenza Covid-19. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/sars-cov-2-sorveglianza-rsa.
    1. Lopez Bernal J, Andrews N, Gower C, Gallagher E, Simmons R, Thelwall S, Stowe J, Tessier E, Groves N, Dabrera G, Myers R, Campbell CNJ, Amirthalingam G, Edmunds M, Zambon M, Brown KE, Hopkins S, Chand M, Ramsay M. Effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2021;385(7):585–594. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2108891. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Istituto Superiore di Sanità. (2021). Bollettino di prevalenza e distribuzione delle varianti di SARS-CoV-2 di interesse per la sanità pubblica in Italia. Rapporto n. 14 del 26 novembre 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://www.iss.it/cov19-cosa-fa-iss-varianti/.
    1. Istituto Superiore di Sanità. (2021). Stima della prevalenza delle varianti VOC (variants of concern) in Italia: Beta, gamma, delta, omicron e altre varianti di SARS-CoV-2. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.iss.it/web/guest/cov19-cosa-fa-iss-varianti/

Supplementary concepts