Association Between COVID-19 Booster Vaccination and Omicron Infection in a Highly Vaccinated Cohort of Players and Staff in the National Basketball Association

Abstract

Author Contributions: Drs Tai and Mack had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Drs Grad and Mack are joint senior authors on this work.

Quantifying the impact of immune history and variant on SARS-CoV-2 viral kinetics and infection rebound: a retrospective cohort study

“…In contrast, the best model, which included the cumulative number of exposures and virus lineage in addition to days since detection, gave an overall classification accuracy of 82.9% with an AUC of 90.0% (Ct<30 = 63.7%; Ct≥30/negative = 89.4%) for the frequent testing group and an overall classification accuracy of 84.8% with an AUC of 91.3% (Ct<30 = 69.6%; Ct≥30/negative = 89.6%) in the delayed detection group. These results indicate that while exposure histories help to explain mean viral RNA kinetics, they provide little assistance in predicting an individual's course of infectiousness over time, due to a high degree of individual-level variation, which may be contributed by stochastic effects or other unmeasured characteristics.Vaccination provides multiple layers of protection against SARS-CoV-2, leading to reduced rates of infection(20) and faster clearance of the virus (19). Consistent with these findings, individuals who received two vaccine doses prior to infection with pre-Delta and pre-Omicron variants (N=17) cleared to negative results or high Ct values faster than unvaccinated individuals (N=216) (Supplementary Figure6).…”

“…While boosting reduced rates of infection in our cohort, (Tai et al, 2022) 6). This pattern was robust to refitting the model after excluding player infections, resulting in a subpopulation more representative of the general population in age and health status (Supplementary Figure 7).…”

“…Overall, these findings suggest that symptom monitoring after clearing isolation may be warranted, and a return to isolation may be necessary for individuals with rebound infections. (Charness et al, 2022) Boosted individuals in this cohort were less likely to be infected with Omicron BA.1, (Tai et al, 2022) and those who had a breakthrough infection tended to have a low antibody titer The effect of age on viral kinetics complicates the interpretation of these findings. Prior to the detection of Omicron BA.1, older individuals have been found to take longer to clear infection on average than younger individuals.…”

“…Consistent with these findings, individuals who received two vaccine doses prior to infection with pre-Delta and pre-Omicron variants (N=17) cleared to negative results or high Ct values faster than unvaccinated individuals (N=216) (Supplementary Figure6). While boosting reduced rates of infection in our cohort,(20) boosted individuals with Omicron BA.1 infections (N=651) tended to sustain low Ct values for longer durations than individuals who had only undergone an initial vaccine course (N=251), defined as either two doses of an mRNA vaccine or a single dose of the Ad.26.COV2.S adenovirus vector-based vaccine (Figure 2A; Supplementary Figure…”

“…However, the difference in classification accuracy between the models was small. The Vaccination provides multiple layers of protection against SARS-CoV-2, leading to reduced rates of infection (Tai et al, 2022) and faster clearance of the virus. Consistent with these findings, individuals who received two vaccine doses prior to infection with pre-Delta and pre-Omicron variants (N=17) cleared to negative results…”