Impact of COVID-19 immunisation on COVID-19 incidence, hospitalisations, and deaths by age group in Germany from December 2020 to October 2021

•First national study on patterns of COVID-19 immunisation and outcomes in Germany.•Age groups with higher immunisation coverage experienced smaller incidence peaks.•Hospitalisations and deaths declined despite circulation of new virus variants known to cause more severe illness overall. Utilising n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vaccine 2022-05, Vol.40 (21), p.2910-2914
Main Authors: Perumal, Nita, Steffen, Annika, Ullrich, Alexander, Siedler, Anette
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Age groups
Communicable Disease Control
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - prevention & control
COVID-19 vaccines
Ecological effects
Fatalities
Germany
Germany - epidemiology
Hospitalization
Humans
Immunisation
Immunization
Incidence
Morbidity
Mortality
Pandemics
Population
Public health
Short Communication
Surveillance
Viral diseases
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Summary:•First national study on patterns of COVID-19 immunisation and outcomes in Germany.•Age groups with higher immunisation coverage experienced smaller incidence peaks.•Hospitalisations and deaths declined despite circulation of new virus variants known to cause more severe illness overall. Utilising national surveillance data, we investigated the impact of the COVID-19 immunisation campaign on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality between December/2020 and October/2021 in Germany. We compared patterns in immunisation coverage, incidence, hospitalisations, and deaths among 12–17, 18–59, and 60+ year-olds and examined these patterns within the context of anti-pandemic measures. COVID-19 incidence increased in all age groups following the end of lockdown restrictions in March/2021, but as Germany experienced successive peaks in incidence, age groups with higher immunisation coverage experienced successively smaller peaks. Notwithstanding corresponding increases during periods of higher incidence, among those aged 60+ years, COVID-19 related hospitalisations and deaths declined considerably as immunisation coverage increased, despite circulation of virus variants known to cause more severe illness. Although ecological in nature, this study allows us to demonstrate clear patterns of decline in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in Germany during the course of the immunisation campaign.
ISSN:0264-410X
1873-2518
1873-2518
DOI:10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.04.002