Decreased SARS-CoV-2 rates in persons with recent non-COVID-19 vaccinations

Colin Pawlowski, Arjun Puranik, Hari Bandi, View ORCID ProfileAJ Venkatakrishnan, Vineet Agarwal, Richard Kennedy, View ORCID ProfileJohn C O’Horo, View ORCID ProfileGregory J Gores, Amy W Williams, View ORCID ProfileJohn Halamka, View ORCID ProfileAndrew D Badley, View ORCID ProfileVenky Soundararajan

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.27.20161976

This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

PDF: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.27.20161976v2.full.pdf

Abstract

Multiple clinical studies are ongoing to assess whether existing vaccines may afford protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection through trained immunity. In this exploratory study, we analyze immunization records from 137,037 individuals who received SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests. We find that polio, Hemophilus influenzae type-B (HIB), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), varicella, pneumococcal conjugate (PCV13), geriatric flu, and hepatitis A / hepatitis B (HepA-HepB) vaccines administered in the past 1, 2, and 5 years are associated with decreased SARS-CoV-2 infection rates, even after adjusting for geographic SARS-CoV-2 incidence and testing rates, demographics, comorbidities, and number of other vaccinations. Furthermore, age, race/ethnicity, and blood group stratified analyses reveal significantly lower SARS-CoV-2 rate among black individuals who have taken the PCV13 vaccine, with relative risk of 0.45 at the 5 year time horizon (n: 653, 95% CI: (0.32, 0.64), p-value: 6.9e-05). These findings suggest that additional pre-clinical and clinical studies are warranted to assess the protective effects of existing non-COVID-19 vaccines and explore underlying immunologic mechanisms. We note that the findings in this study are preliminary and are subject to change as more data becomes available and as further analysis is conducted.

Competing Interest Statement

One or more of the investigators associated with this project and Mayo Clinic have a Financial Conflict of Interest in technology used in the research and that the investigator(s) and Mayo Clinic may stand to gain financially from the successful outcome of the research. This research has been reviewed by the Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest Review Board and is being conducted in compliance with Mayo Clinic Conflict of Interest policies. ADB is a consultant for Abbvie, is on scientific advisory boards for Nference and Zentalis, and is founder and President of Splissen therapeutics

Funding Statement

ADB is supported by Grants AI 110173 and AI120698 from NIAID, 109593-62-RGRL from Amfar, and the HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan named professorship from Mayo Clinic.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.27.20161976v2?%253fcollection=