The mean age at pregnancy onset was 31.62 years (standard deviation of 4.66 years). Monthly incidence is based on SARS-CoV-2 positive test result date or, if not known, hospital admission date. *** An additional 172 (3.4%, 95% CI = 2.7%4.2%) adults were partially vaccinated, 69 (0.9%, 95% CI=0.61.2) received a primary vaccination series <14 days before receiving a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result, and 186 (4.1%) had unknown vaccination status; these groups are not further described in this analysis. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7112e2. Omicron Is Not More Severe for Children, Despite Rising Hospitalizations More children are being treated for Covid, but a combination of factors, including low vaccination rates, most. as well as other partner offers and accept our. The final study population included 30311 (48.8%) infants who were KPNC members at least 2 months after birth. Two recent papers claim there are no differences between surgical masks and respirators for preventing the spread of respiratory diseases like COVID-19 and flu, but the articles are deeply flawed. Compared with the Delta-predominant period, the proportion of unvaccinated hospitalized Black adults increased during the Omicron-predominant period. Includes current treatment or recent diagnosis within the previous 12 months of an immunosuppressive condition or use of an immunosuppressive therapy. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.11.22269045v1, https://data.cdc.gov/Vaccinations/COVID-19-Vaccination-Demographics-in-the-United-St/km4m-vcsb. The rate among adults who received a primary series, but no booster or additional dose, was three times the rate among adults who received a booster or additional dose. Introduction: A rapid increase in COVID-19 cases due to the spread of the Delta and Omicron variants in vaccinated populations has raised concerns about the hospitalization risk associated with, and the effectiveness of, COVID-19 vaccines. Clinical information was abstracted for 5,681 adults with COVID-19associated hospitalization during July 1, 2021January 31, 2022 (Table). Maternal vaccination with at least two doses reduced the infants risk of testing SARS-CoV-2 positive initially by 84% which decreased to 56% by 6 months of life in the Delta dominant period. We, therefore, were unable to assess whether maternal infection provided some protection to their infants. Despite several studies showing that vaccination during pregnancy is safe for pregnant people24,25,26,27,28, vaccine uptake has been suboptimal in this group29. Weekly COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates among U.S. infants and children aged 0-4 years have declined since the peak of January 8, 2022; however, peak rates during Omicron predominance were approximately five times those of the peak during Delta predominance. Hospitalization rates were 10.5 times higher in the unvaccinated and 2.5 times higher in vaccinated patients with no booster than in booster recipients. The study provides evidence that a previous omicron infection in triple-vaccinated individuals provides high amounts of protection against BA.5 and BA.2 infections. Children currently account for about 18.5% of reported COVID-19 cases in the United States1. As Omicron spread in the US, hospitalization rates in December were much lower for the vaccinated. Hospitalization of infants and children aged 0-4 years with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19COVID-NET, 14 states, March 2020-February 2022. 384, 403416 (2021). Hospitalization rates during peak Omicron circulation (January 2022) among unvaccinated adults remained 12 times the rates among vaccinated adults who received booster or additional doses and four times the rates among adults who received a primary series, but no booster or additional dose. pdf files, Omicron: fewer adverse outcomes come with new dangers, Statement on offensive historical content, Redistribute or republish the final article, Reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works. Rep. 71, 2630 (2022). If SARS-CoV-2 test date was missing, hospitalization admission date was used. New federal data shows adults who received the updated shots cut their risk of being hospitalized with . Although hospitalization rates increased for all adults, rates were highest among unvaccinated adults and lowest among adults who had received a primary series and a booster or additional dose. Implementing strategies that result in the equitable receipt of COVID-19 vaccinations among persons with disproportionately higher hospitalizations rates, including non-Hispanic Black adults, is an urgent public health priority. *** LTCF residents include hospitalized adults who were identified as residents of a nursing home/skilled nursing facility, rehabilitation facility, assisted living/residential care, long-term acute care hospital, group/retirement home, or other LTCF upon hospital admission. During the Omicron-predominant period, overall weekly adult hospitalization rates peaked at 38.4 per 100,000, exceeding the previous peak on January 9, 2021 (26.1) and the peak rate during the Delta-predominant period (15.5) (Figure 1). Nursing home residents have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19; older age, comorbidities, and the congregate nature of nursing homes place residents at higher risk for infection and severe COVID-19-associated outcomes . In King County, Wash., which includes Seattle, unvaccinated people were 13 times more likely to be hospitalized for coronavirus since December than people who were fully vaccinated. mmwrq@cdc.gov. The company also said full results of its 2,250-person study confirmed the pill's promising early results against the virus: The drug reduced combined hospitalizations and deaths by about 89. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. Objectives To develop and implement a scoring tool to identify COVID-19 patients that are at risk for severe illness during the Omicron wave. Overall, the study results support recommendations for vaccination during pregnancy to protect both mothers and their infants. Morb. The rates don't account for non-vaccine-related risks, Mark Jit, professor of vaccine epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told Insider in an email. The rate among adults who received a primary series, but no booster or additional dose (133.5), was three times the rate among adults who received a booster or additional dose (45.0). Infections are rare and can be severe or fatal, but so far scientists don't see genetic changes that pose an increased threat to people. J. JAMA Netw. TN, NMF, SFlax, MC, DDA, AMP, and ST conceptualised the work. Gretchen Rothrock, California Emerging Infections Program; Millen Tsegaye, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; Julie Plano, Connecticut Emerging Infections Program, Yale School of Public Health; Kyle Openo, Georgia Emerging Infections Program, Georgia Department of Public Health Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Emory University; Andy Weigel, Iowa Department of Health; Chloe Brown, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Erica Bye, Minnesota Department of Health; Wickliffe Omondi, New Mexico Emerging Infections Program, University of New Mexico; Alison Muse, New York State Department of Health; Christina Felsen, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry; Eli Shiltz, Ohio Department of Health; Nasreen Abdullah, Public Health Division, Oregon Health Authority; William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Melanie Crossland, Salt Lake County Health Department. We thank staff at UKHSA and members of the UK Government SPI-M committee and the UKHSA Variant Technical Group for valuable discussions. Stay up to date with what you want to know. However, these Omicron impacts have been mostly observed in countries with high vaccination rates in the Region: the comparatively lower rate of hospitalizations and deaths so far is in large part thanks to vaccination, particularly of vulnerable groups. Third, because immunocompromise status is not always known, it is not possible to distinguish between booster and additional doses; this could have influenced observed rates. "People who get vaccinated may be more cautious about COVID in general, or perhaps getting vaccinated makes them less cautious, or they may live in states with more/less COVID risk, etc," Jit said. Analyses were conducted using SAS statistical software survey procedures (version 9.4; SAS Institute). Receipt of COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy and preterm or small-for-gestational-age at birtheight integrated Health Care Organizations, United States, December 15, 2020-July 22, 2021. Late last year, as Omicron was spreading fast in the US, hospitalization rates per 100,000 rose sharply among unvaccinated adults, while rates in those who were fully vaccinated remained. J. Med. By the end of December, Omicron made up 58% of all cases in the US, per Our World in Data, but Delta is thought to cause more severe disease and more hospitalizations than Omicron on average. The average death rate among Americans over age 65 who contract the flu has ranged between 1 in 75 and 1 in 160 in recent years, according to the C.D.C. Graff, K. et al. Other studies found similarly decreased proportions of severe outcomes among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 during this period (6).. Rates are calculated using the CDC National Center for Health Statistics vintage 2020 bridged-race postcensal population estimates for the counties included in surveillance. Only 16% of children between the ages of 5 and 11 are fully vaccinated, and that number climbs to just over 50% of adolescents between ages 12 and 17, according to CDC data . GD declares that his employer UK Health Security Agency (previously operating as Public Health England) received funding from GlaxoSmithKline for a research project related to influenza antiviral treatment. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties. Chi-square tests were used to compare differences between the Delta- and Omicron-predominant periods; p-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Marks, K. J. et al. In the Omicron variant period, the effectiveness of maternal vaccination in these three age intervals was 21% (CI: 21,48), 14% (CI: 9,32) and 13% (CI: 3,26), respectively. Morb. Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Vaccine Study Center, Oakland, CA, USA, Ousseny Zerbo,G. Thomas Ray,Bruce Fireman,Evan Layefsky,Kristin Goddard,Edwin Lewis,Pat Ross&Nicola P. Klein, Yale University, Institute for Global Health, New Haven, CT, USA, Department of Internal Medicine (Infectious Diseases), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA, Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Oakland, Oakland, CA, USA, Regional Perinatal Service Center, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Santa Clara, CA, USA, You can also search for this author in This preceded and had no relation to COVID-19, and GD had no role in and received no funding from the project. * Overall rates are unadjusted; rates presented by racial and ethnic group are age-adjusted. References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are This is consistent with data showing the incidence of positive SARS-CoV-2 test results or death from COVID-19 is higher among unvaccinated adults and adults who have not received a booster than among those who have received a booster or additional dose (5). Omicron vaccine effectiveness estimates for 7 to 59 days, 60 to 119 days, and 240 days or more after the second dose are not presented owing to imprecision in the estimates and wide 95% CIs (ie, 100 percentage points). Estimated effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against omicron or delta symptomatic infection and severe outcomes. JAMA 327, 10871089 (2022). Sarah J. These data should be taken with a grain of salt. During Omicron predominance, shortly after the Food and Drug Administration authorized COVID-19 vaccination for this age group, population-based hospitalization rates among unvaccinated children were twice as high as were those among vaccinated children. The results were published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. Models were adjusted for the covariates listed above. 387, 187189 (2022). Severe cases may increase in the wake of holiday parties where people of all ages mixed. M.G. Science brief: omicron (B.1.1.529) variant. This analysis describes weekly hospitalization rates during Delta- and Omicron-predominant periods. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:1328. Buchan, S. A. et al. Mortal. volume14, Articlenumber:894 (2023) Rep. 69, 10811088 (2020). Although the study was unable to directly estimate VE against hospitalization due to the small number of hospitalized cases, it found that over the entire study period, the incidence rate of hospitalization during the first 6 months of life was much lower among the infants whose mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy compared with those whose mothers were not vaccinated. Thompson, M. G. et al. Google Scholar. Relative to unvaccinated hospitalized patients, hospitalized vaccinees were more likely to be older (median age, 70 vs 58 years) and to have at least three underlying conditions (77.8% vs 51.6%). All these results were similar to those when no adjustments for covariates are made (Supplemental Table1). U.S. regulators had authorized the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years in October, prior to the Omicron surge. Klein, N. P. et al. "The high hospitalization rates in unvaccinated compared with vaccinated persons with and without a booster dose underscores the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations in preventing hospitalizations and suggests that increasing vaccination coverage, including booster dose coverage, can prevent hospitalizations, serious illness, and death," the researchers wrote. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. 26 Among those fully vaccinated individuals 5 years of age who are booster eligible, only 49% have received a . The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease grant # 1R01AI168373-01 to O.Z. SARS-CoV-2 delta VOC in Scotland: demographics, risk of hospital admission, and vaccine effectiveness. Just 28% of children in the age group - around 8 million . Wkly. The TND analyses avoid this bias by limiting the analysis to infants who were tested for SARS-CoV-2. Over the entire study period, the crude rate of hospitalization with a SARS-CoV-2 positive test was lower during the first 6 months of life among infants whose mothers received at least two doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy compared with infants whose mothers were unvaccinated during pregnancy (21/100,000 PY vs. 100/100,000 PY). From this cohort, the study excluded the following infants born to (1) mothers who were not between ages 16 and 50 years at pregnancy onset; (2) mothers who did not have a primary KPNC facility assignment; (3) mothers who were not continuous KPNC members from December 15, 2020 until delivery; (4) mothers who had a positive nasal/throat swab for SARS-CoV-2 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) prior to pregnancy onset; (5) mothers who had a positive SARS-CoV-2 antibody test documented by KPNC prior to the onset of pregnancy; (6) mothers who received one or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine prior to pregnancy onset. Table 2. All analyses were conducted using SAS software, v9.4. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Percentages presented were weighted to account for the probability of selection for sampled cases (3). of pages found at these sites. Morb. If the SARS-CoV-2 test date was not available, hospital admission date was used. Wkly. The code used to analyse the data is available on. J. Protection during both periods decreased as infants aged. NMF, MC, GD, DDA, AMP, and ST supervised the work. All authors (O.Z., B.F., N.P.K., T.R., M.G., E.L., P.R., K.G., S.O., and E.L.) critically reviewed the manuscript and decided to proceed with publication. The U.K. Health. Iowa did not provide immunization data but is included in the overall population-based hospitalization rates. Selected counties in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Utah (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6915e3.htm). However, linking is sometimes not possible because CDC does not receive personally identifiable information about vaccine doses. Estimation of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine effectiveness against medically attended COVID-19 in pregnancy during periods of delta and Omicron variant predominance in the United States. Infants were followed from birth until the first positive SARS-CoV-2 test by PCR at age 2, 4, or 6 months, with censoring due to death, health plan disenrollment, or end of follow-up (May 31, 2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.09.059 (2022). 385, 13551371 (2021). Between December 15, 2020, and May 31, 2022, we identified 62,117 infants born at Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), an integrated healthcare delivery organization. As of December 25, the rate among unvaccinated people was 78 per 100,000, compared to 4 per 100,000 among fully vaccinated people, the CDC reported. We calculated VE as 100% multiplied by 1- OR. It is possible that our exclusion criteria may have resulted in a final sample that may not be reflective of all KPNC infants. Mortal. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Risk was especially high for people with severe combined immunodeficiency (HR, 6.2). All adults should stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccination to reduce their risk for COVID-19associated hospitalization. VE against hospitalization was not estimated because of the very small number of hospitalized cases. According to the CDC, hospitalization rates among the unvaccinated were 16 times higher in December overall. Protection during both periods decreased as infants aged from 2 months to 6 months. 182, 825831 (2022). Suggested citation for this article: Taylor CA, Whitaker M, Anglin O, et al. ICU admission status was missing in 1.3% (weighted) of hospitalizations; these hospitalizations are included in other analyses. Two new observational studies suggest that COVID-19 vaccination lowers long-COVID incidence and severity. 1.04-1.49) after adjusting for age, sex, and vaccine characteristics. Spontaneous abortion following COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content and ads. E.L. coordinated administrative tasks. Because the immune status of all patients is not known, an additional dose (recommended for persons with a weakened immune system) cannot be distinguished from a booster dose. Nat Commun 14, 894 (2023). Coinciding with Omicron variant predominance, COVID-19associated hospitalization rates among adults increased in late December 2021 and peaked in January 2022; rates increased more among Black adults relative to rates among adults of other racial and ethnic groups. A free-text field for other types of residences was examined; patients with an LTCF-type residence were also categorized as LTCF residents. State data show the average age for COVID deaths was about 80 in late 2020, but dropped in spring 2021 to as low as 69 after most older adults received their first COVID vaccines. Wkly Rep. 71, 352358 (2022). Article A and B, Markers indicate estimates, with vertical lines indicating 95% CIs. Overall, 63% of Americans are fully vaccinated. Internet Explorer). Several conditions, including cancer of the blood or bone marrow and dementia, were associated with HRs greater than 3. After the emergence of the Omicron variant, the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States was 10.5 times higher in unvaccinated adults and 2.5 times higher in those who were vaccinated but received no booster than in booster recipients, according to a new study. Annually, approximately 40,000 births occur at KPNC facilities. (2021) Omicron is supercharging the COVID vaccine booster debate. For infants, we included age, as a categorical time-changing variable in 30-day increments. Gynecol. The infection fatality rate from Covid-19 fell more than 10-fold from a little more than 1 per cent in January 2021 to 0.1 per cent in July as the UK's vaccination campaign was rolled out, and . However, infants aged <6 months are not currently eligible for any currently available COVID-19 vaccines and must rely on placentally acquired immunity from their mothers. It is critical that nursing home residents stay up to date with CO VID-19 vaccines and receive a bivalent booster dose to maximize protection against COVID-19. Evaluation of the relative virulence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada. 189, 13791388 (2020). N. Engl. Baden, L. R. et al. Three recent epidemiological studies found that vaccination during pregnancy was associated with a reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in infants during their first 4 months of life and a reduced risk of hospitalization during the first 5 months of life17,18,19. 226, 236 e1236.e14 (2022). The findings in this report are subject to at least four limitations. Halasa, N. B. et al. Additional recommendations followed and data availability on booster-dose status varies by age because not all age groups were recommended by ACIP to receive booster doses at the same time. Thus, this design better adjusts for healthcare-seeking behavior31,32, but it may also introduce other biases including selection bias33. We conducted secondary sensitivity analyses restricting the population to infants who received at least one SARS-CoV-2 PCR test. The prevalence of primary COVID-19 vaccination and of receipt of a booster dose were lower among Black adults compared with White adults. 1). O.Z. N. Engl. Another explanation is the presence of a high COVID-19 vaccination rate among studied individuals (more than two-thirds), which is supported by the finding that the majority of patients had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 prior to undergoing vaccination. Racial and ethnic disparities in rates of COVID-19associated hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, and in-hospital death in the United States from March 2020 to February 2021. image, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04474-x, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04479-6, https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.18.22269082, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2021-to-2022-season, Download .pdf (.95 It's not clear which variant might have been associated with these hospitalizations. CDC graphs show in detail the protection vaccines gave from hospitalization. Defined as one or more of the following: chronic lung disease including asthma, chronic metabolic disease including diabetes mellitus, blood disorder/hemoglobinopathy, cardiovascular disease, neurologic disorder, immunocompromising condition, renal disease, gastrointestinal/liver disease, rheumatologic/autoimmune/inflammatory condition, obesity, feeding tube dependency, and wheelchair dependency. CAS Views equals page views plus PDF downloads. The group raised concerns about a small number of Guillain-Barre syndrome cases in vaccine recipients and wanted more data, especially on efficacy in those at highest risk. By comparison, from two to 25 weeks after the second dose, protection against Omicron hospitalization was 64%, the UKHSA said. The aim of the secondary design was to compare the results of the cohort with TND. CDC twenty four seven. J. Epidemiol. Variances were estimated using Taylor series linearization method. BNT162b2 vaccine effectiveness against omicron in children 5 to 11 years of age. 387, 109119 (2022). Experts say they. Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. N. Engl. "The association between the QCovid risk groups and the risk of death were stronger in people who had received a booster and were infected by the Omicron variant compared with evidence from the Alpha and Delta period in doubly vaccinated individuals," the authors wrote. CAS Mothers were classified as either having had 2 doses or one dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy (and completed more than 14 days prior to delivery) or not having had any COVID-19 vaccines prior to delivery. Med. This can lead to overestimates of first doses and underestimates of subsequent doses, and underestimates of hospitalization rates in persons who received additional or booster doses. SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to severe illnesses and hospitalizations in children and infants2,3,4,5.