Reduction in COVID-19 Patients Requiring Mechanical Ventilation Following Implementation of a National COVID-19 Vaccination Program — Israel, December 2020–February 2021

Abstract

On February 26, 2021, this report was posted as an MMWR Early Release on the MMWR website (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr). The availability of COVID-19 vaccines represents an opportunity to mitigate the effects of the global pandemic. Achieving high vaccination coverage through intensive vaccination campaigns has the potential to substantially reduce COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality. Clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing mild and severe COVID-19 in a controlled setting. However, clinical trials are not designed to assess the population impact of vaccination in a real-world setting (1,2). Israel initiated a national vaccination campaign using the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine in December 2020, prioritizing persons aged >60 years, health care workers, and persons with underlying medical conditions. By February 2021, 2-dose vaccination coverage among persons aged ≥70 years was 84%. To assess the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on the occurrence of severe disease, an ecological study was conducted. Requiring mechanical ventilation was used as a proxy for severe COVID-19. The number of COVID-19 patients aged ≥70 years (who had the highest 2-dose vaccination coverage, 84.3%) requiring mechanical ventilation was compared with that of patients aged <50 years, who had the lowest 2-dose vaccination coverage (9.9%). Since implementation of the second dose of the vaccination campaign, the ratio of COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation aged ≥70 years to those aged <50 years has declined 67%, from 5.8:1 during October-December 2020 to 1.9:1 in February 2021. These findings provide preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing severe cases of COVID-19 at the national level in Israel. Receipt of COVID-19 vaccines by eligible persons can help limit spread of disease and potentially reduce the occurrence of severe disease. The first case of COVID-19 in Israel, a country with a population of approximately 9 million, was reported in February 2020. As of February 9, 2021, approximately 700,000 cases and 5,200 deaths had been reported (3). Nonpharmaceutical interventions have included three national stay-at-home orders, † multiple rounds of school closures, restrictions on commercial activity and travel, and a mask mandate, among others. The most recent

Immunological memory and neutralizing activity to a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine in previously infected individuals

“…Our results demonstrate that individuals who were previously infected mounted higher immune and memory responses to a single dose of vector based vaccine compared to those with no prior exposure. Earlier studies reported immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 infection ( Rodda et al, 2021 , Dan et al, 2021 ) and higher antibody response with single dose in previously infected individuals ( Rinott et al, 2021 ). Our study reports higher Memory T and B cell responses in addition to higher antibody response with single dose of COVISHIELD given at 3-6 months after recovery from COVID-19.…”

“…In the absence of specific therapeutic drugs to treat COVID-19, vaccines are currently the only alternative option in the control of SARS-CoV-2 infection ( Krammer, 2020 ). COVID-19 vaccination programs initiated worldwide resulted in decreased disease severity ( Rinott et al, 2021 ). Vaccinating huge populations need evidence based strategies for successful implementation and control of the pandemic.…”

A Simple Mathematical Tool to Help Distribute Doses of ‘Two-Dose’ Covid-19 Vaccines among Non-Immunized and Partly-Immunized Population

“…The Covid -19 pandemic prompted scientists across the globe to design possible alternative COVID-19 vaccines 5 . Full immunization with two doses of Covid vaccine has been found to be a critical factor in preventing morbidity and mortality from the Covid-19 infection 1 . Globally the governments are trying to immunize their people as fast as possible to achieve maximum population coverage.…”

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy For Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients With Moderate To Severe Hypoxia

“…In addition, this study occurred prior to the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, therefore, mortality may decrease in general as older and high-risk patients are vaccinated. 19,20,32 We acknowledge that several non-randomized studies for COVID-19 treatments (convalescent plasma, antiviral and immune-modulating agents) initially showed great potential for therapeutic bene t but failed to reveal de nitive results in randomized trials. 12,33,34 HBOT may meet with the same fate but given the effect size observed in our study, further investigation is warranted.…”