Increasing risk of breakthrough COVID-19 in outbreaks with high attack rates in European long-term care facilities, July to October 2021

• Published in: Euro surveillance : bulletin européen sur les maladies transmissibles Vol. 26; no. 49; p. 1
• Main Authors: Suetens, Carl, Kinross, Pete, Gallego Berciano, Pilar, Arroyo Nebreda, Virginia, Hassan, Eline, Calba, Clémentine, Fernandes, Eugenia, Peralta-Santos, Andre, Casaca, Pedro, Shodu, Nathalie, Dequeker, Sara, Kontopidou, Flora, Pappa, Lamprini, Kacelnik, Oliver, Børseth, Anita Wang, O'Connor, Lois, Garvey, Patricia, Liausedienė, Rasa, Valintelienė, Rolanda, Ernst, Corinna, Mossong, Joël, Štefkovičová, Mária, Prostináková, Zuzana, Danielsen, Ann Caroline, Mougkou, Aikaterini, Lamb, Favelle, Cenciarelli, Orlando, Monnet, Dominique L, Plachouras, Diamantis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sweden Centre Europeen pour la Surveillance Epidemiologique du SIDA (European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS) 09.12.2021; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
• Subjects: COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Disease prevention; Humans; Immunization; Incidence; Long term health care; Long-Term Care; Nursing homes; Rapid Communication; Risk factors; SARS-CoV-2; Europe; COVID-19; outbreaks; long-term care facilities; vaccines
• ISSN: 1560-7917; 1025-496X; 1560-7917
• DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.49.2101070

We collected data from 10 EU/EEA countries on 240 COVID-19 outbreaks occurring from July-October 2021 in long-term care facilities with high vaccination coverage. Among 17,268 residents, 3,832 (22.2%) COVID-19 cases were reported. Median attack rate was 18.9% (country range: 2.8-52.4%), 17.4% of cases were hospitalised, 10.2% died. In fully vaccinated residents, adjusted relative risk for COVID-19 increased with outbreak attack rate. Findings highlight the importance of early outbreak detection and rapid containment through effective infection prevention and control measures.