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. 2022 Aug 12;13(1):4738.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31838-8.

Protection of COVID-19 vaccination and previous infection against Omicron BA.1, BA.2 and Delta SARS-CoV-2 infections

Affiliations

Protection of COVID-19 vaccination and previous infection against Omicron BA.1, BA.2 and Delta SARS-CoV-2 infections

Stijn P Andeweg et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

Given the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants and the roll-out of booster COVID-19 vaccination, evidence is needed on protection conferred by primary vaccination, booster vaccination and previous SARS-CoV-2 infection by variant. We employed a test-negative design on S-gene target failure data from community PCR testing in the Netherlands from 22 November 2021 to 31 March 2022 (n = 671,763). Previous infection, primary vaccination or both protected well against Delta infection. Protection against Omicron BA.1 infection was much lower compared to Delta. Protection was similar against Omicron BA.1 compared to BA.2 infection after previous infection, primary and booster vaccination. Higher protection was observed against all variants in individuals with both vaccination and previous infection compared with either one. Protection against all variants decreased over time since last vaccination or infection. We found that primary vaccination with current COVID-19 vaccines and previous SARS-CoV-2 infections offered low protection against Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 infection. Booster vaccination considerably increased protection against Omicron infection, but decreased rapidly after vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. S result and WGS typed variant found in community surveillance.
A Number of S-gene target failure (SGTF) and non-SGTF positive tests over time (n = 986,974). B Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) typed variant found in national genome surveillance of community testing samples in the Netherlands (n = 17,907). Boxes indicate the Delta-Omicron BA.1 cohort (dotted line) and Omicron BA.1-BA.2 cohort (dot-dashed line).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Relative reduction in infections for different vaccination and previous infection statuses.
Relative reduction in infections after previous infection, primary vaccination, booster vaccination, or combinations of previous infection and vaccination, compared with naïve status ((1-odds ratio (OR)) * 100), by time since last event and overall in persons aged 18 and older, for cohort Delta-Omicron BA.1 (A, n = 258,907) and cohort Omicron BA.1-BA.2 (B, n = 260,653). Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Relative reduction in infections for different vaccination and previous infection statuses by age.
Relative reduction in infections after previous infection, primary vaccination, booster vaccination, or combination of previous infection and vaccination, compared with naïve status ((1-odds ratio (OR)) * 100), by time since last event and overall, and by age group. The columns indicate the vaccination and previous infection status and the rows display the age group in years, for cohort Delta-Omicron BA.1 (A, n = 354,596) and cohort Omicron BA.1-BA.2 (B, n = 316,973). Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.

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