Combined protection of vaccination and nirmatrelvir-ritonavir against hospitalization in adults with COVID-19.

Among U.S. adults at risk for severe COVID-19 in Epic Cosmos, the lowest rate of hospitalization was among those receiving three or more mRNA vaccine doses and nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (aHR 0.22, 95%CI: 0.19-0.24). Adults who are at high-risk of severe COVID-19 disease, including vaccinated persons, should be considered for antiviral treatment.

Vaccine Effectiveness of JYNNEOS against Mpox Disease in the United States.

BACKGROUND: In the United States, more than 30,000 cases of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) had occurred as of March 1, 2023, in an outbreak disproportionately affecting transgender persons and gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. In 2019, the JYNNEOS vaccine was approved for subcutaneous administration (0.5 ml per dose) to prevent mpox infection. On August 9, 2022, an emergency use authorization was issued for intradermal administration (0.1 ml per dose); however, real-world effectiveness data are limited for either route. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study based on data from Cosmos, a nationwide Epic electronic health record (EHR) database, to assess the effectiveness of JYNNEOS vaccination in preventing medically attended mpox disease among adults. Case patients had an mpox diagnosis code or positive orthopoxvirus or mpox virus laboratory result, and control patients had an incident diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or a new or refill order for preexposure prophylaxis against HIV infection between August 15, 2022, and November 19, 2022. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated from conditional logistic-regression models, adjusted for confounders; vaccine effectiveness was calculated as (1 - odds ratio for vaccination in case patients vs. controls) × 100. RESULTS: Among 2193 case patients and 8319 control patients, 25 case patients and 335 control patients received two doses (full vaccination), among whom the estimated adjusted vaccine effectiveness was 66.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 47.4 to 78.1), and 146 case patients and 1000 control patients received one dose (partial vaccination), among whom the estimated adjusted vaccine effectiveness was 35.8% (95% CI, 22.1 to 47.1). CONCLUSIONS: In this study using nationwide EHR data, patients with mpox were less likely to have received one or two doses of JYNNEOS vaccine than control patients. The findings suggest that JYNNEOS vaccine was effective in preventing mpox disease, and a two-dose series appeared to provide better protection. (Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Epic Research.).

Paxlovid Associated with Decreased Hospitalization Rate Among Adults with COVID-19 - United States, April-September 2022.

Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid), an oral antiviral treatment, is authorized for adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at increased risk for progression to severe illness. However, real-world evidence on the benefit of Paxlovid, according to vaccination status, age group, and underlying health conditions, is limited. To examine the benefit of Paxlovid in adults aged ≥18 years in the United States, a large electronic health record (EHR) data set (Cosmos†) was analyzed to assess the association between receiving a prescription for Paxlovid and hospitalization with a COVID-19 diagnosis in the ensuing 30 days. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate this association, adjusted for demographic characteristics, geographic location, vaccination, previous infection, and number of underlying health conditions. Among 699,848 adults aged ≥18 years eligible for Paxlovid during April-August 2022, 28.4% received a Paxlovid prescription within 5 days of COVID-19 diagnosis. Being prescribed Paxlovid was associated with a lower hospitalization rate among the overall study population (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 0.49), among those who had received ≥3 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (aHR = 0.50), and across age groups (18-49 years: aHR = 0.59; 50-64 years: aHR = 0.40; and ≥65 years: aHR = 0.53). Paxlovid should be prescribed to eligible adults to reduce the risk of COVID-19-associated hospitalization.

Effectiveness of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination in Preventing COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Among Adults with Previous SARS-CoV-2 Infection - United States, June 2021-February 2022.

Previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been estimated to confer up to 90% protection against reinfection, although this protection was lower against the Omicron variant compared with that against other SARS-CoV-2 variants (1-3). A test-negative design was used to estimate effectiveness of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in preventing subsequent COVID-19-associated hospitalization among adults aged ≥18 years with a previous positive nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) or diagnosis of COVID-19.† The analysis used data from Cosmos, an electronic health record (EHR)-aggregated data set (4), and compared vaccination status of 3,761 case-patients (positive NAAT result associated with hospitalization) with 7,522 matched control-patients (negative NAAT result). After previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19-associated hospitalization was 47.5% (95% CI = 38.8%-54.9%) after 2 vaccine doses and 57.8% (95% CI = 32.1%-73.8%) after a booster dose during the Delta-predominant period (June 20-December 18, 2021), and 34.6% (95% CI = 25.5%-42.5%) after 2 doses and 67.6% (95% CI = 61.4%-72.8%) after a booster dose during the Omicron-predominant period (December 19, 2021-February 24, 2022). Vaccination provides protection against COVID-19-associated hospitalization among adults with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, with the highest level of protection conferred by a booster dose. All eligible persons, including those with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, should stay up to date with vaccination to prevent COVID-19-associated hospitalization.