In the period from 15 March 2022 to 28 June 2022, hardly any protection against hospital and ICU admission could still be detected from the basic series of COVID-19 vaccinations. This is because the vast majority of people who only received the basic series were vaccinated nearly a year ago by now, and vaccinations (and previous infections) provide protection against hospital admission which diminishes over time. The estimated vaccine effectiveness offers an indication of the different risk of hospital admission for groups of vaccinated or unvaccinated people. This estimate does not include data on previous infections, which can also provide protection. As a result, estimates of vaccine effectiveness are increasingly difficult to interpret.
The booster vaccinations were administered more recently, and the repeat vaccinations against COVID-19 were even more recent. Vaccine effectiveness of the booster vaccination in preventing hospital admission was estimated at 63%. It is clear that the repeat vaccination against COVID-19 for people over 60 provides additional protection against hospital admission. After the repeat vaccination, vaccine effectiveness in preventing hospital admission increases to 77%. For people over 60 who received a repeat vaccination, the risk of hospital admission was 1.6 times lower than for people over 60 who had received one booster jab. The repeat vaccination also offers effective protection against ICU admission. After the booster jab, vaccine effectiveness against ICU admission is estimated at 74%, rising to 80% after the repeat vaccination.
Everyone who has been invited to get a COVID-19 vaccination in the basic series, as a booster jab or as a repeat vaccination, but has not yet done so, can still get the jab. You can make an appointment via www.planjeprik.nl.
This update is based on data on hospital admissions from 15 March to 28 June 2022. At the beginning of this period, the majority of COVID-19 hospital admissions were caused by the Omicron BA.2 variant. In June 2022, the variant that caused the highest number of COVID-19 hospital admissions was Omicron BA.5.