Impacts of rapid mass vaccination against SARS-CoV2 in an early variant of concern hotspot

Schwaz, Austria, experienced SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks caused by variants of concern in early 2021 and conducted a mass vaccination campaign in response, with 70% of the adult population vaccinated after 5 days. Here, the authors show that this campaign resulted in reduced infections and hospitalisations. We study the real-life effect of an unprecedented rapid mass vaccination campaign. Following a large outbreak of the Beta variant in the district of Schwaz/Austria, 100,000 doses of BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) were procured to mass vaccinate the entire adult population of the district between the 11th and 16th of March 2021. This made the district the first widely inoculated region in Europe. We examine the effect of this campaign on the number of infections, cases of variants of concern, hospital and ICU admissions. We compare Schwaz with (i) a control group of highly similar districts, and (ii) with populations residing in municipalities along the border of Schwaz which were just excluded from the campaign. We find large and significant decreases for all outcomes after the campaign. Our results suggest that rapid mass vaccination is an effective tool to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Automated summary

A mass vaccination campaign in Schwaz, Austria, resulted in reduced infections and hospitalisations. The study suggests that rapid mass vaccination is an effective tool to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2.