Vaccination is among the measures implemented by authorities to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, real-world evidence of population-level effects of vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 are required to confirm that positive results from clinical trials translate into positive public health outcomes. Since the age group 80 + years is most at risk for severe COVID-19 disease progression, this group was prioritized during vaccine rollout in Germany. Based on comprehensive vaccination data from the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate for calendar week 1–20 in the year 2021, we calculated sex- and age-specific vaccination coverage. Furthermore, we calculated the proportion of weekly COVID-19 fatalities and reported SARS-CoV-2 infections formed by each age group. Vaccination coverage in the age group 80 + years increased to a level of 80% (men) and 75% (women). Increasing vaccination coverage coincided with a reduction in the age group’s proportion of COVID-19 fatalities. In multivariable logistic regression, vaccination coverage was associated both with a reduction in an age-group’s proportion of COVID-19 fatalities [odds ratio (OR) per 5 percentage points = 0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.82–0.96, p = 0.0013] and of reported SARS-CoV-2 infections (OR per 5 percentage points = 0.82, 95% CI 0.76–0.88, p < 0.0001). The results are consistent with a protective effect afforded by the vaccination campaign against severe COVID-19 disease in the oldest age group. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10654-021-00825-6.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, vaccination, Mortality, Real-world evidence, 【초록키워드】 public health, Vaccine, clinical trial, SARS-COV-2 infection, COVID-19 pandemic, Sex, risk, progression, Spread, outcomes, Coverage, Germany, age, women, severe COVID-19 disease, protective effect, fatality, Evidence, supplementary material, 95% CI, 95% confidence interval, multivariable logistic regression, positive result, measure, positive, men, proportion, reported, required, calculated, reduction in, translate, Increasing, population-level effect, Rhineland-Palatinate, 【제목키워드】 Germany, Analysis, COVID-19 mortality, vaccination rate, Rhineland-Palatinate, with COVID-19,