Published online Jun 18, 2023. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v11.i5.167
Peer-review started: January 28, 2023
First decision: March 28, 2023
Revised: April 9, 2023
Accepted: April 18, 2023
Article in press: April 18, 2023
Published online: June 18, 2023
Processing time: 138 Days and 21.5 Hours
Although there has been a rise in the administration of vaccinations and booster shots, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections and fatalities continue to persist at a significant level. The effectiveness of these vaccines has been confirmed by multiple manufacturers and were rapidly developed for emergency use with testing conducted in controlled clinical conditions and on voluntary participants, whose characteristics may differ from those of the broader population.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented global health crisis resulting in millions of deaths and infections worldwide. Despite the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the administration of booster shots, the number of cases and deaths remains high. The development and clinical trials of these vaccines were conducted in controlled environments with volunteers which may not fully represent the general population. Therefore, there is a need to determine the real-world effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in the elderly during the predominance of Delta and Omicron variants in preventing COVID-19-related infections, hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and intubation, and death.
This study aimed to conduct a systematic review of available research articles to evaluate the effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines on the elderly using infection, hospitalization, ICU admission and intubation, and death as outcome measures.
The study utilized a combination of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and non-MeSH to identify relevant research articles from various databases and pre-print servers.
While clinical trial data on Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines demonstrated high vaccine effectiveness in the elderly, the results of this study showed that vaccine effectiveness in real-world settings is marginally lower against infection, hospitalization, ICU admission and intubation, and death, with an indication of diminished effectiveness of the vaccine over time. Furthermore, 2 doses of mRNA vaccines are inadequate and only provide interim protection, emphasizing the need for booster doses to restore its efficacy.
Continued monitoring and research to improve the effectiveness of vaccines and combat the virus effectively is important to evaluate vaccine efficacy in real-world settings, especially as new variants emerge. In addition, the use of highly heterogeneous outcome measures poses a challenge in comparing and integrating the results, and standardized outcome measures or minimal heterogeneity in outcome measurements are essential to better understand and respond to a global health crisis.
Future research should continue to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, including the efficacy of booster shots and the effectiveness of vaccines against new variants. Additionally, efforts should be made to standardize outcome measures to enable better comparisons across studies and facilitate the integration of findings. Ultimately, such research will be crucial in guiding public health policies and interventions aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19 and in mitigating its impact on public health.