Nationwide effectiveness of five SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in Hungary-the HUN-VE study

Clin Microbiol Infect. 2022 Mar;28(3):398-404. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2021.11.011. Epub 2021 Nov 25.

Abstract

Objectives: The Hungarian vaccination campaign was conducted with five different vaccines during the third wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2021. This observational study (HUN-VE: Hungarian Vaccine Effectiveness) estimated vaccine effectiveness against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and COVID-19-related mortality in 3.7 million vaccinated individuals.

Methods: Incidence rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19-related mortality were calculated using data from the National Public Health Centre surveillance database. Estimated vaccine effectiveness was calculated as 1 - incidence rate ratio ≥7 days after the second dose for each available vaccine versus an unvaccinated control group using mixed-effect negative binomial regression controlling for age, sex and calendar day.

Results: Between 22 January 2021 and 10 June 2021, 3 740 066 Hungarian individuals received two doses of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech), HB02 (Sinopharm), Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik-V), AZD1222 (AstraZeneca), or mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccines. Incidence rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19-related death were 1.73-9.3/100 000 person-days and 0.04-0.65/100 000 person-days in the fully vaccinated population, respectively. Estimated adjusted effectiveness varied between 68.7% (95% CI 67.2%-70.1%) and 88.7% (95% CI 86.6%-90.4%) against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and between 87.8% (95% CI 86.1%-89.4%) and 97.5% (95% CI 95.6%-98.6%) against COVID-19-related death, with 100% effectiveness in individuals aged 16-44 years for all vaccines.

Conclusions: Our observational study demonstrated the high or very high effectiveness of five different vaccines in the prevention SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19-related death.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019-related death; Coronavirusdisease 2019 infection; Effectiveness; Original submission; Real-world study; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection.

Publication types

  • Observational Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • BNT162 Vaccine
  • COVID-19 Vaccines*
  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
  • Humans
  • Hungary / epidemiology
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • COVID-19 Vaccines
  • ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
  • BNT162 Vaccine