Abstract
Background: We aimed to analyze an outbreak caused by a vaccine breakthrough infection in a hospital with an active infection control program where 91.9% of health care workers were vaccinated.
Methods: We investigated a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak between September 9 and October 2, 2021, in a referral teaching hospital in Korea. We retrospectively collected data on demographics, vaccination history, transmission, and clinical features of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients, health care workers, and caregivers.
Results: During the outbreak, 94 individuals tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction testing. There were infections in 61 health care workers, 18 patients, and 15 caregivers; 74.5% (70/94) were vaccine breakthrough infections. Most transmissions appeared to be caused by three index cases, which accounted for 86.2% (81/94) of transmissions. Forty-seven (58.0%, 47/81) cases were associated with the hospital staff cafeteria and offices located in the basement. Among health care workers and caregivers, only one required oxygen supplementation. In contrast, among patients, there were four fatal cases (22.2%, 4/18), 3 of which were unvaccinated.
Conclusions: Superspreading infection among fully vaccinated individuals occurred in an acute care hospital while the delta variant was dominant. Given the potential for severe complications, as this outbreak demonstrated, preventive measures including adequate ventilation should be emphasized to minimize transmission in hospitals.
Keywords: Breakthrough infection; COVID-19 vaccine; Health care workers; Ventilation.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19 vaccine, health care workers, Breakthrough infection, Ventilation., 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, infection control, Coronavirus disease 2019, Vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine, vaccination, Health care, hospital, health care workers, variant, Infection, Ventilation, oxygen, Transmission, delta variant, Clinical features, hospitals, Hospital staff, outbreak, Health care worker, Caregivers, reverse transcription, Breakthrough infection, preventive measures, Care, patients, clinical feature, vaccine breakthrough infections, demographics, preventive measure, Chain Reaction, index cases, individual, collected data, Polymerase chain reaction testing, transmissions, severe complications, positive, vaccinated individual, oxygen supplementation, MOST, dominant, basement, tested, occurred, caused, investigated, required, accounted, demonstrated, 【제목키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, Vaccine, hospital, outbreak, Care,