Effect of mRNA Vaccine Boosters against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Infection in Qatar

  1. Laith J. Abu-Raddad
  2. Hiam Chemaitelly
  3. Houssein H. Ayoub
  4. Sawsan AlMukdad
  5. Hadi M. Yassine
  6. Hebah A. Al-Khatib
  7. Maria K. Smatti
  8. Patrick Tang
  9. Mohammad R. Hasan
  10. Peter Coyle
  11. Zaina Al-Kanaani
  12. Einas Al-Kuwari
  13. Andrew Jeremijenko
  14. Anvar H. Kaleeckal
  15. Ali N. Latif
  16. Riyazuddin M. Shaik
  17. Hanan F. Abdul-Rahim
  18. Gheyath K. Nasrallah
  19. Mohamed Ghaith Al-Kuwari
  20. Adeel A. Butt
  21. Hamad Eid Al-Romaihi
  22. Mohamed H. Al-Thani
  23. Abdullatif Al-Khal
  24. Roberto Bertollini

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Abstract

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  1. Version published to 10.1056/nejmoa2200797
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.01.18.22269452: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    The hazard ratio comparing incidence of symptomatic infection in both cohorts and corresponding 95% CI were calculated using Cox regression adjusted for the matching factors with the STATA 17.035 stcox
    STATA
    suggested: (Stata, RRID:SCR_012763)
    Statistical analyses were conducted in STATA/SE version 17.0.35 Oversight: Hamad Medical Corporation and Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar Institutional Review Boards approved this retrospective study with waiver of informed consent, since analysis was done on routinely collected data.
    STATA/SE
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study has limitations. With the high and durable effectiveness of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 primary series against hospitalization and death,1,6 the lower severity of Omicron,53 the relatively young population of Qatar,18,54 and the time lag between infection and severe forms of COVID-19, there were too few confirmed severe, critical, and fatal COVID-19 cases at time of writing of this report to be able to precisely estimate effectiveness of the boosters against COVID-19 hospitalization and death. As an observational study, the vaccinated cohorts were neither blinded nor randomized, so potentially unmeasured or uncontrolled confounding cannot be excluded. While matching was done for sex, age, nationality, and calendar week of the second vaccine dose, it was not possible for other factors, such as comorbidities or occupation, as such data were not available to investigators. With the large Omicron wave in Qatar, use of rapid antigen testing was expanded to supplement PCR testing starting from January 5, 2022, but rapid antigen testing data were not available for analysis. Matching was done to control for factors known to affect infection risk of exposure in Qatar,18,21,30-32 as well as variant exposure.1,13,14,23,36-38 Matching by age may have (partially) reduced the potential for bias due to co-morbidities. The number of individuals with severe chronic conditions is also small in Qatar’s young population.18,54 Matching by nationality may have (partially) controlled the diff...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2022.01.18.22269452 on medRxiv