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Health Care Workforce

Association Between Vaccination With BNT162b2 and Incidence of Symptomatic and Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections Among Health Care Workers

Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

1 Credit CME

JAMA

Published Online: May 6, 2021

Original Investigation

Article Information and Disclosures

Yoel Angel, MD, MBA^1,2;

Avishay Spitzer, MD^2,3,4;

Oryan Henig, MD^2,5;

Esther Saiag, MD, MHA^2,6;

Eli Sprecher, MD, PhD, MBA^2,7,8;

Hagit Padova, MD, MHA^2,9;

Ronen Ben-Ami, MD^2,5

Author Affiliations

¹Department of Physician Affairs, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
²Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
³Department of Oncology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
⁴Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
⁵Department of Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
⁶Department of Information Systems and Operations, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
⁷Department of Research and Development, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
⁸Department of Dermatology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
⁹Department of Patient Safety, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel

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Key Points

Question What is the association between receipt of the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine and the incidence of symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among health care workers?

Findings In this retrospective cohort study conducted in Tel Aviv, Israel, that included 6710 health care workers who underwent periodic testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection, vaccination with the BNT162b2 vaccine was associated with an adjusted incidence rate ratio of 0.03 for symptomatic infection and 0.14 for asymptomatic infection more than 7 days after the second dose. Both incidence rate ratios were statistically significant.

Meaning Receipt of the BNT162b2 vaccine was significantly associated with lower incidence of symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among health care workers.

Abstract

Importance Randomized clinical trials have provided estimates of the effectiveness of the BNT162b2 vaccine against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, but its effect on asymptomatic infections remains unclear.

Objective To estimate the association of vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine with symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections among health care workers.

Design, Setting, and Participants This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study conducted at a tertiary medical center in Tel Aviv, Israel. Data were collected on symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in health care workers undergoing regular screening with nasopharyngeal swabs between December 20, 2020, and February 25, 2021. Logistic regression was used to calculate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) comparing the incidence of infection between fully vaccinated and unvaccinated participants, controlling for demographics and the number of PCR tests performed.

Exposures Vaccination with the BNT162b2 vaccine vs unvaccinated status was ascertained from the employee health database. Full vaccination was defined as more than 7 days after receipt of the second vaccine dose.

Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was the regression-adjusted IRR for symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection of fully vaccinated vs unvaccinated health care workers. The secondary outcomes included IRRs for partially vaccinated health care workers (days 7-28 after first dose) and for those considered as late fully vaccinated (>21 days after second dose).

Results A total of 6710 health care workers (mean [SD] age, 44.3 [12.5] years; 4465 [66.5%] women) were followed up for a median period of 63 days; 5953 health care workers (88.7%) received at least 1 dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine, 5517 (82.2%) received 2 doses, and 757 (11.3%) were not vaccinated. Vaccination was associated with older age compared with those who were not vaccinated (mean age, 44.8 vs 40.7 years, respectively) and male sex (31.4% vs 17.7%). Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection occurred in 8 fully vaccinated health care workers and 38 unvaccinated health care workers (incidence rate, 4.7 vs 149.8 per 100 000 person-days, respectively, adjusted IRR, 0.03 [95% CI, 0.01-0.06]). Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection occurred in 19 fully vaccinated health care workers and 17 unvaccinated health care workers (incidence rate, 11.3 vs 67.0 per 100 000 person-days, respectively, adjusted IRR, 0.14 [95% CI, 0.07-0.31]). The results were qualitatively unchanged by the propensity score sensitivity analysis.

Conclusions and Relevance Among health care workers at a single center in Tel Aviv, Israel, receipt of the BNT162b2 vaccine compared with no vaccine was associated with a significantly lower incidence of symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection more than 7 days after the second dose. Findings are limited by the observational design.

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Article Information

Corresponding Author: Ronen Ben-Ami, MD, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Weizmann 6, Tel Aviv, Israel 6423906 (ronenba@tlvmc.gov.il).

Accepted for Publication: April 21, 2021.

Published Online: May 6, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.7152

Author Contributions: Drs Angel and Spitzer 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 Angel and Spitzer contributed equally.

Concept and design: Angel, Henig, Sprecher, Padova, Ben-Ami.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Angel, Spitzer, Saiag, Sprecher.

Drafting of the manuscript: Angel, Spitzer, Henig, Saiag, Padova, Ben-Ami.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Angel, Spitzer, Henig, Sprecher, Padova.

Statistical analysis: Angel, Spitzer, Ben-Ami.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Angel, Saiag, Sprecher, Padova.

Supervision: Sprecher, Padova, Ben-Ami.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Angel reported receiving research grants from Pfizer outside the scope of this work. Dr Spitzer reported being partially supported by the Israeli Council for Higher Education via the Weizmann Data Science Research Center and by a research grant from Madame Olga Klein–Astrachan. Dr Ben-Ami reported receiving consulting fees from Pfizer, Gilead, and Merck Sharp & Dohme outside the scope of this work. No other disclosures were reported.

Additional Contributions: We thank Tanya Grossman, BSc, Shelly Zitrin, BA, and Tal Kozlovski, MSc (all 3 with the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center), as well as Ran Abuhasira, MD (Rabin Medical Center), for their assistance in obtaining the data for the study and insightful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. None of these contributors received compensation for their role in the study.

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Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
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1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
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