As the immunocompromised population faces heightened risks from COVID-19, understanding which vaccines offer the best protection is crucial. A recent study compared the real-world effectiveness of a third dose of two leading mRNA vaccines: mRNA-1273 (Moderna) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech), with a focus on preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and medically attended cases among immunocompromised adults in the U.S.
Study Overview
The study analyzed data from the US HealthVerity database, covering the period from December 2020 to August 2022. It assessed the effectiveness of a third dose of mRNA-1273 (Moderna) versus BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) in preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and medically attended COVID-19 cases among immunocompromised adults. The researchers applied inverse probability weighting to balance baseline cofounders between the two vaccine groups, and used non-parametric methods to calculate relative risk and risk differences for subgroup and sensitivity analyses.
The findings suggest that a third dose of mRNA-1273 was associated with a lower risk of COVID-19 hospitalization compared to BNT162b2 among immunocompromised adults in the U.S. These results provide valuable insights into vaccine performance within a high-risk population and underscore the importance of optimizing vaccination strategies to prevent severe COVID-19 outcomes among immunocompromised individuals.