Journal Article

mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants and severe COVID-19 disease in Qatar

Al Khatib, Hebah A., Hasan, Mohammad R., Al Kuwari, Einas, Abdul Rahim, Hanan F., Yassine, Hadi M., Kaleeckal, Anvar Hassan, Bertollini, Roberto, Ayoub, Houssein H., Latif, Ali Nizar, Chemaitelly, Hiam, Coyle, Peter, Al Kuwari, Mohamed Ghaith, Jeremijenko, Andrew, Al-Thani, Mohamed H., Tang, Patrick, Malek, Joel A., Abu-Raddad, Laith J., Butt, Adeel A., Al Kanaani, Zaina, Nasrallah, Gheyath K., Al Khal, Abdullatif, Al Romaihi, Hamad Eid, Benslimane, Fatiha M., Shaik, Riyazuddin Mohammad

2021

Overview

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to be a global health concern. The mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccine was reported to have an efficacy of 94.1% at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 due to infection with ‘wild-type’ variants in a randomized clinical trial. Here, we assess the real-world effectiveness of this vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, specifically B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.351 (Beta), in Qatar, a population that comprises mainly working-age adults, using a matched test-negative, case-control study design. We show that vaccine effectiveness was negligible for 2 weeks after the first dose, but increased rapidly in the third and fourth weeks immediately before administration of a second dose. Effectiveness against B.1.1.7 infection was 88.1% (95% confidence interval (CI): 83.7–91.5%) ≥14 days after the first dose but before the second dose, and was 100% (95% CI: 91.8–100.0%) ≥14 days after the second dose. Analogous effectiveness against B.1.351 infection was 61.3% after the first dose (95% CI: 56.5–65.5%) and 96.4% after the second dose (95% CI: 91.9–98.7%). Effectiveness against any severe, critical or fatal COVID-19 disease due to any SARS-CoV-2 infection (predominantly B.1.1.7 and B.1.351) was 81.6% (95% CI: 71.0–88.8%) and 95.7% (95% CI: 73.4–99.9%) after the first and second dose, respectively. The mRNA-1273 vaccine is highly effective against B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 infections, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, and against any COVID-19 hospitalization and death, even after a single dose. A matched test-negative, case-control study using real-world data from a predominantly working-age population demonstrates efficacy of the mRNA-1273 vaccine to be 100% and 96.4% against the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.351 (Beta) SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, respectively.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group US,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 631/250/590/2293 / 692/308/174 / 692/699/255/2514 / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedicine / Cancer Research / Case studies / Confidence intervals / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / COVID-19 vaccines / Dose-response relationship / Effectiveness / Global health / Infections / Infectious Diseases / Metabolic Diseases / Molecular Medicine / mRNA / Neurosciences / Pandemics / Public health / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Vaccine efficacy / Vaccines / Viral diseases