Omicron variants: is vaccine effectiveness in negative?

An 18-year-old girl with no comorbidities died at the Government Thanjavur Medical College Hospital, in Tamil Nadu, India, on June 14. Cause of death is COVID pneumonia, respiratory failure and cardiorespiratory arrest. The girl was admitted on June 14 at 7:15 am and declared dead at 2:30 pm the same day. She had no fever at the time of admission, was conscious and had breathing difficulty. She was vaccinated with two doses of Covishield (Oxford/Astrazeneca AZD1222) C19VAZ vaccine, formerly known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-1) and this was the first time she was infected by the virus.


A June-28th report from Erie county, PA shows that some vaccinated and boosted individuals are dying from the latest variants of the virus. 

Analysis of hospitalizations and deaths in the UK, showed a significant increase in the case fatality rate (0.19% vs 0.41%; RR 2.11 [2.06-2.16], p<0.001) and odds of hospitalization when comparing the period of February 28-May 1, 2022 with the prior 12-weeks.
During the same period a significant increase in cases (23.7% vs 40.3%; RR1.70 [1.70-1.71]; p<0.001) among ≥50 years of age and hospitalizations (39.3% vs 50.3%;RR1.28 [1.27-1.30]; p<0.001) and deaths (67.89% vs 80.07%;RR1.18 [1.16-1.20]; p<0.001) among ≥75 years of age was observed. The vaccine effectiveness (VE) for the third dose was in negative since December 20, 2021, with a significantly increased proportion of SARS-CoV2 cases hospitalizations and deaths among the vaccinated; and a decreased proportion of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among the unvaccinated. Wallgreens data shows the same trend for positivity rate. According to CDC, recent 4-dose-vaccination provides some protection to 65+ population, but the difference with the unvaccinated keeps decreasing.

In U.S, original Omicron was gone by the end of May 2022. BA.5 overtook the BA2.12.1 variant by the end of June.


REFERENCES

https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2022/jun/16/tamil-nadu-reports-first-covid-19-death-after-three-months-2466101.html

https://eriecountypa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/COVID-19-Deaths-by-Vaccination-Status-6-28-22.pdf 

Venkata R. Emani, Vivek K. Pallipuram, Kartik K. Goswami, Kailash R. Maddula, Raghunath Reddy, Abirath S. Nakka, Sravya Panga, Nikhila K. Reddy, Nidhi K. Reddy, Dheeraj Nandanoor, Sanjeev Goswami  Increasing SARS-CoV2 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among the vaccinated elderly populations during the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant surge in UK medRxiv 2022.06.28.22276926 (posted June 30, 2022); doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.06.28.22276926

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