Do childhood measles and DTaP vaccination decrease the mortality rate caused by SARS CoV-2 in OECD countries?

Abstract

Aim: It is aimed to examine the relationship between DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) and measles vaccination rates of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and case fatality rate (CFR) caused by SARS CoV-2 with this study. Materials and Methods: Considering the fact that COVID-19 pandemic was mainly observed in the northern hemisphere and the seasonal effect, OECD countries located in northern hemisphere were involved in this study. 2018 OECD data has been used for vaccination rates of the countries where “Our World in Data” website (https://ourworldindata.org/) has been used for CFR and other data. Therefore, ethics committee approval was not obtained for this study. CFR has been calculated according to the total mortality count of OECD countries for the 3-month period down from the date when first SARS CoV-2 case was observed. Results: Based on the correlation levels of vaccination rates of OECD countries with 3-month CFR, it has been observed that there is negative although not yet significant correlation (r=-264.0, p=0.145) between CFR and DTaP vaccination rates and there is negative correlation at a high level of significance between CFR and measles (r=-0.479, p=0.006). Discussion: It has been concluded that CFR rates based on SARS CoV-2 are lower in the countries that apply measles vaccine, which is live-attenuated vaccine, on the society in a stricter way. States must spread vaccination across the society by applying stricter vaccination programmes.

Keywords

• Case fatality rate
• SARS CoV-2
• vaccination
• DTaP
• measles

OECD ülkelerinde çocukluk çağı kızamığı ve DTaP aşısı SARS CoV-2'ye bağlı ölüm oranını azaltıyor mu?

Abstract

Amaç: Bu çalışma ile Ekonomik İşbirliği ve Kalkınma Örgütü (OECD) ülkelerinin DTaP (difteri, tetanos, boğmaca) ve kızamık aşılama oranları ile SARS CoV-2'nin neden olduğu vaka ölüm oranı (CFR) arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Materyal ve Metod: COVID-19 pandemisinin ağırlıklı olarak kuzey yarımkürede görülmesi ve mevsimsel etki göz önüne alındığında, bu çalışmaya kuzey yarımkürede bulunan OECD ülkeleri dahil edilmiştir. Ülkelerin aşılama oranları için 2018 OECD verileri kullanılmış olup, CFR ve diğer veriler için “Our World in Data” web sitesi (https://ourworldindata.org/) kullanılmıştır. Bu nedenle bu çalışma için etik kurul onayı alınmamıştır. CFR, ilk SARS CoV-2 vakasının görüldüğü tarihten itibaren 3 aylık süre için OECD ülkelerinin toplam ölüm sayısına göre hesaplanmıştır. Sonuçlar: OECD ülkelerinin aşılama oranlarının 3 aylık CFR ile korelasyon düzeylerine bakıldığında, CFR ile DTaP aşılama oranları arasında negatif ancak henüz anlamlı olmayan bir korelasyon (r=-264.0, p=0.145) ve CFR ile kızamık arasında yüksek anlamlılık düzeyinde negatif bir korelasyon (r=-0.479, p=0.006) olduğu görülmüştür. Tartışma: Canlı zayıflatılmış aşı olan kızamık aşısını topluma daha sıkı uygulayan ülkelerde SARS CoV-2'ye dayalı CFR oranlarının daha düşük olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. Devletler daha sıkı aşılama programları uygulayarak aşılamayı topluma yaymalıdır.

Keywords

• vaka ölüm oranı
• SARS CoV-2
• aşılama
• DTaP
• kızamık

References

1. 1.Wilder-Smith A, Freedman DO. Isolation, quarantine, social distancing and community containment: pivotal role for old-style public health measures in the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak. J Travel Med. 2020;27(2):taaa020. [Crossref]
2. 2.New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Daily Data Summary: Deaths [Internet]. New York: NYC Health; 2020 May 12 [cited 2020 Jun 15]. Available from: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-19-daily-data-summary-deaths-05132020-1.pdf
3. 3.Oke J, Heneghan C. Global Covid-19 case fatality rates [Internet]. Oxford: Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine; 2020 Mar 17 [updated 2020 Jun 9; cited 2020 Jun 15]. Available from: https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/global-covid-19-case-fatality-rates/
4. 4.Okyay RA, Sahin AR, Aguinada RA, Tasdogan AM. Why are children less affected by COVID-19? Could there be an overlooked bacterial co-infection? EJMO. 2020;4(1):104-5. [Crossref]
5. 5.OECD. Childhood vaccination programmes. In: Health at a Glance 2013: OECD Indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2013.
6. 6.Thompson G. Measles and MMR statistics [Internet]. London: House of Commons Library; 2009 Feb 10 [cited 2020 Jun 16]. Available from: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN02581/SN02581.pdf
7. 7.Gold J. MMR vaccine appears to confer strong protection from COVID-19: few deaths from SARS-CoV-2 in highly vaccinated populations. Res Gate. 2020. [Crossref]
8. 8.Sajadi MM, Habibzadeh P, Vintzileos A, Shokouhi S, Miralles-Wilhelm F, Amoroso A. Temperature, humidity, and latitude analysis to estimate potential spread and seasonality of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(6):e2011834. [Crossref]

9. 9.Hegarty P, Kamat A, Zafirakis H, Dinardo A. BCG vaccination may be protective against Covid-19. Res Gate. 2020. [Crossref]
10. 10.Netea MG, Dominguez-Andres J, Barreiro LB, Chavakis T, Divangahi M, Fuchs E, et al. Defining trained immunity and its role in health and disease. Nat Rev Immunol. 2020;20(6):375-88. [Crossref]
11. 11.Mina MJ, Kula T, Leng Y, Li M, de Vries RD, Knip M, et al. Measles virus infection diminishes preexisting antibodies that offer protection from other pathogens. Science. 2019;366(6465):599-606. [Crossref]
12. 12.Shereen MA, Khan S, Kazmi A, Bashir N, Siddique R. COVID-19 infection: origin, transmission, and characteristics of human coronaviruses. J Adv Res. 2020;24:91-8. [Crossref]
13. 13.Ricciardi V, Verme P, Serajuddin U. Testing for all or testing for some? A town’s key lesson in testing everyone for coronavirus. April 29, 2020 (cited 2020 June 25). Available from: https://blogs.worldbank.org/-opendata/covid-19-testing-all-or-testing-some-towns-key-lesson-testing-everyone-coronavirus.