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
. 2024 Jun 8;24(1):570.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-024-09460-4.

Frequency of SARS-COV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccine uptake and protection among Syrian refugees : COVID-19 Vaccine among Syrian Refugees

Zeynep Meva Altaş  1 , Mehmet Akif Sezerol  2   3   4
Affiliations

Frequency of SARS-COV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccine uptake and protection among Syrian refugees : COVID-19 Vaccine among Syrian Refugees

Zeynep Meva Altaş et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

It is aimed to examine the frequency of COVID-19 disease, the rates of COVID-19 vaccination and the vaccine effectiveness (VE) among Syrian refugees. It is a retrospective cohort study. Syrian refugees aged 18 years and above registered to a family health center in Sultanbeyli district in Istanbul were included. Vaccine effectiveness were calculated for both Pfizer BioN-Tech and CoronaVac (Sinovac) vaccines. The data of 2586 Syrian people was evaluated in the study. The median age of the participants was 34.0 years (min:18.0; max: 90.0). Of the participants 58.4% (n = 1510) were female, 41.6% (n = 1076) were male. In our study of the refugees 15.7% had history of COVID-19 infection. Refugees having full vaccination with Biontech and Sinovac have a significantly lower COVID-19 infection rate than those without vaccination (HR = 8.687; p < 0.001). Adjusted VE for Biontech, Sinovac, and both were 89.2% (95.0% CI:83.3-93.1), 81.2% (95.0% CI:48.72-93.1) and 88.5% (95.0% CI:82.7-92.3), respectively. The results of the study highlight the importance of vaccinations against COVID-19 pandemic, since both vaccines were highly protective in refugees.

Keywords: COVID-19 infection; Refugee; Syrian; Vaccination; Vaccine effectiveness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to this study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Participants included in vaccine effectiveness analysis. VE: Vaccine effectiveness, B:Biontech, S:Sinovac
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Nandy K, Salunke A, Pathak SK, Pandey A, Doctor C, Puj K, et al. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of various comorbidities on serious events. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020;14(5):1017–25. doi: 10.1016/j.dsx.2020.06.064. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Patler C, Saadi A. Risk of poor outcomes with COVID-19 among US detained refugees: a cross-sectional study. J Immigr Minor Health. 2021;23(4):863–6. doi: 10.1007/s10903-021-01173-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Siegel RM, Mallow PJ. The impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations and implications for children and health care policy. Clin Pediatr. 2021;60(2):93–8. doi: 10.1177/0009922820973018. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hintermeier M, Gencer H, Kajikhina K, Rohleder S, Hövener C, Tallarek M, et al. SARS-CoV-2 among migrants and forcibly displaced populations: a rapid systematic review. J Migr Health. 2021;4:100056. doi: 10.1016/j.jmh.2021.100056. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kjøllesdal M, Skyrud K, Gele A, Arnesen T, Kløvstad H, Diaz E, et al. The correlation between socioeconomic factors and COVID-19 among refugees in Norway: a register-based study. Scand J Public Health. 2022;50(1):52–60. doi: 10.1177/14034948211015860. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Substances