Background: Scarce European data in early 2021 suggested lower vaccine effectiveness (VE) against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron lineages than previous variants. Aim: We aimed to estimate primary series (PS) and first booster VE against symptomatic BA.1/BA.2 infection and investigate potential biases. Methods: This European test-negative multicentre study tested primary care patients with acute respiratory symptoms for SAR...
We conducted a multicentre test-negative case–control study covering the period from October 2023 to January 2024 among adult patients aged ≥18 years hospitalised with severe acute respiratory infection in Europe. We provide early estimates of the effectiveness of the newly adapted XBB.1.5 COVID-19 vaccines against PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 hospitalisation. Vaccine effectiveness was 49% overall, ranging between ...
Background: By March, 2023, 54 countries, areas, and territories (hereafter CAT) in the WHO European Region had reported more than 2·2 million COVID-19-related deaths to the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Here, we estimated how many lives were directly saved by vaccinating adults in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023. Methods: In this retrospective surveillance study, we estimated the ...
We conducted a multicentre hospital-based test-negative case–control study to measure vaccine effectiveness (VE) against PCR-confirmed influenza in adult patients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) during the 2022/2023 influenza season in Europe. Among 5547 SARI patients ≥18 years, 2963 (53%) were vaccinated against influenza. Overall VE against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was 11% (95% CI: −23–36); 20% (...
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorised four adapted bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for use against COVID-19 in September/October 2022: Comirnaty (BNT162b2; Pfizer-BioNTech) and Spikevax (mRNA-1273; Moderna) Original/Omicron BA.1 and Original/Omicron BA.4–5 [1]. During autumn 2022, all European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries had vaccination campaigns in place to administer a booster dos...
Introduction: The I-MOVE-COVID-19 and VEBIS hospital networks have been measuring COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) in participating European countries since early 2021. Aim: We aimed to measure VE against PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 in patients ≥ 20 years hospitalised with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) from December 2021 to July 2022 (Omicron-dominant period). Methods: In both networks, 46 hospitals...
Introduction: Two large multicentre European hospital networks have estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19 since 2021. Aim: We aimed to measure VE against PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 in hospitalised severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) patients ≥ 20 years, combining data from these networks during Alpha (March–June)- and Delta (June–December)-dominant periods, 2021. Methods: Forty-six participati...
As the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, primary care influenza sentinel surveillance networks within the Influenza - Monitoring Vaccine Effectiveness in Europe (I-MOVE) consortium rapidly adapted to COVID-19 surveillance. This study maps system adaptations and lessons learned about aligning influenza and COVID-19 surveillance following ECDC / WHO/Europe recommendations and preparing for other diseases pos...
Introduction: Despite seasonal influenza vaccination programmes in most countries targeting individuals aged ≥ 65 (or ≥ 55) years and high risk-groups, significant disease burden remains. We explored the impact and cost-effectiveness of 27 vaccination programmes targeting the elderly and/or children in eight European settings (n = 205.8 million). Methods: We used an age-structured dynamic-transmission model to ...
Introduction: In July and August 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant dominated in Europe. Aim: Using a multicentre test-negative study, we measured COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against symptomatic infection. Methods: Individuals with COVID-19 or acute respiratory symptoms at primary care/community level in 10 European countries were tested for SARS-CoV-2. We measured complete primary course overall VE by ...