• Ahmed Zaqout, Joanne Daghfal, Israa Alaqad, Saleh A N Hussein, Abdullah Aldushain, Muna A Almaslamani, Mohammed Abukhattab, and Ali S Omrani.
• Communicable Disease Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar; Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
• Int. J. Infect. Dis. 2021 Jul 1; 108: 116-118.

ObjectiveThis study examined the initial impact of a national BNT162b2 vaccine rollout on SARS-CoV-2 infections in Qatar.MethodsAll individuals who had completed ≥14 days of follow-up by 16 March 2021 after receiving the BNT162b2 vaccine were included. This study calculated incidence rates (IR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) during days 1-7, 8-14, 15-21, 22-28, and >28 days post-vaccination. Poisson regression was used to calculate incidence rate ratios (IRR) relative to the first 7-day post-vaccination period.ResultsA total of 199,219 individuals with 6,521,124 person-days of follow-up were included. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed in 1877 (0.9%), of which 489 (26.1%) were asymptomatic and 123 (6.6%) required oxygen support. The median time from first vaccination to SARS-CoV-2 confirmation was 11.9 days (IQR 7.7-18.2). Compared with the first 7-day post-vaccination period, SARS-CoV-2 infections were lower by 65.8-84.7% during 15-21, 22-28, and >28 days (P < 0.001 for each). For severe COVID-19, the incidence rates were 75.7-93.3% lower during the corresponding time periods (P < 0.001 for each).ConclusionThe results were consistent with an early protective effect of BNT162b2 vaccine against all degrees of SARS-CoV-2 severity.Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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