- D3.522 - Post-Vaccination SARS-CoV-2 Infections: Evidence, Severity, and Outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on global health systems. While vaccination remains the cornerstone of severe disease prevention, breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infections may still occur following immunization. we aimed to assess the risk and feature of the reinfection after COVID-19 vaccination 

This is a cross sectional study during a period of 3 months, from September 2021 to December 2021. Healthcare workers were invited to answer a self-administrated questionnaire that was distributed by the researcher in charge of the study hand to hand to all participants in a printed form during the open days of vaccination. The data about reinfection after COVID-19 vaccination were obtained through telephone interviews using a structured questionnaire. 

A total of 175 healthcare workers responded to the questionnaire and attend the telephone calls. The majority were female (74.3%), Young Individuals had more risk of breakthrough infection (36.2%) than the other age groups. The proportion of reinfected healthcare workers after vaccination was 56 (32%), of whom (31.4%) partially vaccinated and only (0.6%) participants was fully vaccinated. In addition, most reinfected participants were doctors (44.4%), followed by paramedical staff (34.3%). Among reinfected participants, the most common comorbidities were chronic respiratory disease (48.4%), diabetes (26.3%) and hypertension (23. 3%).Our findings revealed a relatively low prevalence of critical disease after breakthrough infections among healthcare workers. The majority of vaccinated participants had mild reinfection (92.9%) after vaccination and minority had moderate (7.1%) without any severe cases

Despite the occurrence of breakthrough infections, vaccination remains essential in controlling COVID-19, as it markedly reduces the risk of severe disease, morbidity, and mortality