Abstract
Background While COVID-19 vaccines reduce adverse outcomes, post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection remains problematic. We sought to identify community factors impacting risk for breakthrough infections (BTI) among fully vaccinated persons by rurality. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of US adults sampled between January 1 and December 20, 2021, from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C). Using Kaplan-Meier and Cox-Proportional Hazards models adjusted for demographic differences and comorbid conditions, we assessed impact of rurality, county vaccine hesitancy, and county vaccination rates on risk of BTI over 180 days following two mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations between January 1 and September 21, 2021. Additionally, Cox Proportional Hazards models assessed the risk of infection among adults without documented vaccinations. We secondarily assessed the odds of hospitalization and adverse COVID-19 events based on vaccination status using multivariable logistic regression during the study period. Results Our study population included 566,128 vaccinated and 1,724,546 adults without documented vaccination. Among vaccinated persons, rurality was associated with an increased risk of BTI (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42–1.64, for urban-adjacent rural and 1.65, 1.42–1.91, for nonurban-adjacent rural) compared to urban dwellers. Compared to low vaccine-hesitant counties, higher risks of BTI were associated with medium (1.07, 1.02–1.12) and high (1.33, 1.23–1.43) vaccine-hesitant counties. Compared to counties with high vaccination rates, a higher risk of BTI was associated with dwelling in counties with low vaccination rates (1.34, 1.27–1.43) but not medium vaccination rates (1.00, 0.95–1.07). Community factors were also associated with higher odds of SARSCoV-2 infection among persons without a documented vaccination. Vaccinated persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the study period had significantly lower odds of hospitalization and adverse events across all geographic areas and community exposures. Conclusions Our findings suggest that community factors are associated with an increased risk of BTI, particularly in rural areas and counties with high vaccine hesitancy. Communities, such as those in rural and disproportionately vaccine hesitant areas, and certain groups at high risk for adverse breakthrough events, including immunosuppressed/compromised persons, should continue to receive public health focus, targeted interventions, and consistent guidance to help manage community spread as vaccination protection wanes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e0279968 |
| Journal | PLoS ONE |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 1 January |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The project described was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, U54GM104942-05S2, U54GM115458, U54GM104940, U54GM104938, U54GM115516, U54GM115677, U54GM115428, and U54GM104941. The analyses described in publication were conducted with data or tools accessed through the NCATS N3C Data Enclave and supported by NCATS U24 TR002306. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. Other support for this project was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R25AA020818) and by the Department of Veterans Affairs I01BX005413.The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2023 Anzalone et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General
