Vaccination and Its Role in the Prevention of COVID-19 Infection Risk in Workers

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Epidemiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 2403

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Interests: occupational medicine; occupational diseases; non-ionizing radiations (NIRs); occupational exposure evaluation; adverse health effects in workers and prevention; occupational skin cancer; epidemiology and prevention; visual function in workers; occupational risks to the eye and prevention
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
Interests: occupational health and safety; epidemiology of occupational diseases; ionizing and non-ionizing radiation exposure; occupational medicine; workers' health; prevention at in workplaces; exposure to occupational risk factors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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1. Centre for Environment and Health, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
2. IDEWE, External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work, Heverlee, Belgium
Interests: occupational and environmental medicine; toxicology; epigenetics

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Guest Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid development of multiple successful vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 has strongly impacted the prevention of COVID-19-related infectious risk, both for the general population as well as in occupational settings. We now have consolidated data regarding the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, and the study of large cohorts of healthcare workers (HCWs) worldwide has made a significant contribution in this field of research. HCWs have an extremely relevant occupational infectious risk with regard to SARS-CoV-2, and they were among the first groups of people to be vaccinated at the beginning of the vaccination campaigns, and then again with the booster, with very high acceptance rates. Less is known regarding the impact of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in other occupational sectors, even though vaccination has been recognized as a fundamental preventive measure to tackle the occupational risk related to SARS-CoV-2, which is also typical of other professions, and not only of HCWs. Moreover, as the pandemic is continually evolving, mainly due to the effects of new coronavirus variants, new data regarding the preventive effects of the vaccination campaigns in workplaces are currently needed, with particular regard to the need of a fourth vaccine dose and to the effects of the new Omicron-adapted COVID-19 vaccines.

According to these premises, this Special Issue seeks manuscripts that address topics related to the prevention of COVID-19 infectious risks through the implementation of vaccination campaigns in the working population. Original articles and reviews regarding the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines for the prevention of the occupational risk of infections and the topics of risk perception, vaccine hesitancy and the knowledge and attitudes of workers towards COVID-19 vaccines will be considered. It will be important to collect data from different countries in order to appreciate the diversities in the implementation and effects of the vaccination campaigns, as well as in the compliance of workers according to their different cultural backgrounds. Papers that address themes such as the evaluation of the safety of vaccination campaigns as well as the study of the immune response after COVID-19 vaccines in workers, also including the possible co-roles of other vaccines/viral infections such as, e.g., influenza, are particularly welcomed.

Thanks to the contributions received, the final goal of this Special Issue is to provide an updated panorama regarding the role of COVID-19 vaccines for the adequate prevention of occupational SARS-CoV-2 infectious risk.

Prof. Dr. Fabriziomaria Gobba
Dr. Alberto Modenese
Prof. Dr. Lode Godderis
Dr. Caterina Ledda
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • vaccination
  • sars-CoV-2
  • prevention
  • infectious risk
  • occupational health
  • vaccines
  • workplace
  • occupational medicine
  • COVID-19 vaccines

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 694 KiB  
Article
Differences in BNT126b2 and ChAdOx1 Homologous Vaccination Antibody Response among Teachers in Poznan, Poland
by Dagny Lorent, Rafał Nowak, Monika Jankowska, Łukasz Kuszel and Paweł Zmora
Vaccines 2023, 11(1), 118; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11010118 - 3 Jan 2023
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Abstract
Children are among the best vectors to spread respiratory viruses, including emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 due to the asymptomatic or relatively mild course of infection and simultaneously high titres of pathogens in the respiratory tract. Therefore, individuals who have constant contact with children, [...] Read more.
Children are among the best vectors to spread respiratory viruses, including emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 due to the asymptomatic or relatively mild course of infection and simultaneously high titres of pathogens in the respiratory tract. Therefore, individuals who have constant contact with children, e.g., teachers should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as essential workers within the first phases of a vaccination campaign. In Poland, primary and secondary school teachers were vaccinated with ChAdOx1 from February 2021 with a three month interval between the two doses, while lecturers at medical universities, who are simultaneously healthcare workers, received the BNT126b2 vaccine from December 2020 with three weeks between the first and second doses. The aim of this study was to compare the antibody responses at two weeks and three months after vaccination and to estimate the vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 among infection-naïve teachers vaccinated with mRNA and a vector vaccine. We found that the anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibodies were significantly higher among the lecturers but antibody waning was slower among the schoolteachers. However, those vaccinated with ChAdOx1 complained significantly more often of vaccine side effects. In addition, during the three months after the second vaccine dose no study participants were infected with SARS-CoV-2. The BNT126b2 vaccine gave higher antibody titres in comparison with ChAdOx1 but protection against COVID-19 in both cases was similar. Moreover, we did not find any anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein antibodies at two weeks as well as at three months after vaccination among the study participants, which shows a very high vaccine effectiveness in the occupational group with a high SARS-CoV-2-infection risk. Full article
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