Effects of COVID-19 Vaccinations on Residents in Comprehensive Rehabilitation Centres in Saudi Arabia

Ghanam Alshammri; Fayez Alahmri; Salwa Almomen; Abdullah Balobaid; Abdulaziz Aldawsari; Mohammed Alshahmeh; Manal Aljeraiway; Sarah Alqhtani

Effects of COVID-19 Vaccinations on Residents in Comprehensive Rehabilitation Centres in Saudi Arabia

Ghanam Alshammri*, Fayez Alahmri, Salwa Almomen, Abdullah Balobaid, Abdulaziz Aldawsari, Mohammed Alshahmeh, Manal Aljeraiway and Sarah Alqhtani

Published Date: 2025-01-23

Ghanam Alshammri^*, Fayez Alahmri, Salwa Almomen, Abdullah Balobaid, Abdulaziz Aldawsari, Mohammed Alshahmeh, Manal Aljeraiway and Sarah Alqhtani

Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

*Corresponding Author:: Ghanam Alshammri
Department of Public Health
College of Public Health and Health Informatics
Riyadh
Saudi Arabia
E-mail: gfshammri@moh.gov.sa

Received date: July 25, 2023, Manuscript No. IPJPM-23-17553; Editor assigned date: July 27, 2023, PreQC No. IPJPM-23-17553 (PQ); Reviewed date: August 10, 2023, QC No. IPJPM-23-17553; Revised date: January 13, 2025, Manuscript No. IPJPM-23-17553 (R); Published date: January 20, 2025, DOI: 10.36648/2572-5483.10.1.279

Citation: Alshammri G, Alahmri F, Almomen S, Balobaid A, Aldawsari A, et al. (2025) Effects of COVID-19 Vaccinations on Residents in Comprehensive Rehabilitation Centres in Saudi Arabia. J Prev Med Vol:10 No:1

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Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is a recent pandemic that has especially harmful effects on aged and disabled people, who are likelier to contract it if they live in residential care service facilities. Thus, there is a critical need to vaccinate such populations for COVID-19 to limit the disease’s morbidity and mortality, as vaccination is generally acknowledged as providing a better method of reducing COVID-19’s morbidity and mortality. However, the effects of COVID-19 vaccines on elderly and disabled populations have not been investigated in Comprehensive Rehabilitation Centres (CRC) in KSA.

Objectives: To investigate the effects of COVID-19 vaccinations on CRC residents in the KSA.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on data collected from the medical records of 2000 aged and disabled residents in CRC in 10 regions of the KSA between March and May 2022. The study used records regarding cases of COVID-19 infection, hospitalisations and mortality due to COVID-19 for residents who had been vaccinated for COVID-19.

Results: The study showed low rates (6.2%; n=124) of confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses and one critical illness (0.05%) and no mortalities from COVID-19 for residents in CRC who had been vaccinated for COVID-19.

Conclusions: The KSA’s Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of human resources and social development contributed to decline rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalisation and mortality in vaccinated residents of CRC in the KSA.

Keywords

COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Comprehensive rehabilitation centres

Abbreviations

COVID-19: Coronavirus Disease; CRCs: Comprehensive Rehabilitation Centres

Introduction

The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus 2 (SARSr-CoV-2), which began in late 2019, has caused global health and economic crises [1,2]. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared this outbreak to be a global pandemic [3]. By September 2020, approximately 27 million had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and more than 890,000 had died. Morbidity related to COVID-19 often begins with a mild upper respiratory tract infection and diarrhoea and may progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome, hyper coagulation, cardiac and kidney damage, multiple organ failure and death [4].

To help health institutions select the most appropriate vaccine intervention, there is a critical need to accurately evaluate the efficiency of COVID-19 vaccines, which have been reported as generally protecting recipients against COVID-19, limiting infection transmission and reducing mortality and morbidity due to COVID-19 [5]. In addition, vaccines have reportedly reduced the risk of hospitalisations related to COVID-19, including in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and general wards [6].

Residential care services are a type of facility most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the KSA, many elderly and disabled people reside in Comprehensive Rehabilitation Centres (CRC) [7]. A previous study found that the rates of infection and fatality from COVID-19 in CRCs were 44.3% and 2.25%, respectively [8]. Globally, it has been reported that aged people are at high risk of infection with COVID-19 [4], particularly in residential aged care services [5]. In addition, elderly people are more affected by symptomatic COVID-19 [7] and are likelier to be admitted to ICUs [9]. Likewise, persons with disabilities are likelier to contract COVID-19 [10], particularly if they live in residential care services [11], and they are at a higher risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 than from non- COVID-19 causes [12]. Even though COVID-19 vaccines are considered the optimal way to protect people against COVID-19, vaccine efficiency has not been investigated in populations of the elderly and disabled in residential care facilities.

Therefore, the KSA Ministry Of Health (MOH), in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, conducted this study to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 vaccinations on the elderly and disabled populations in CRC in the KSA.

Materials and Methods

The study was designed as a retrospective review of the medical records of 2000 aged and disabled residents from all the CRC administered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in 10 KSA regions between March and May 2022.

The data collected included demographic characteristics, incidences of confirmed diagnoses of COVID-19 infection, critical cases of the disease and deaths from it in those who had received vaccinations for COVID-19. The data also included the vaccine type and the number of doses of vaccine received. Residents were included if they were elderly more than 60 years old or people with disability who were residing in a CRC and vaccinated with at least the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Exclusion criteria included diagnoses, critical cases of or deaths from an illness not associated with COVID-19.

CRC residents were vaccinated during several stages of the vaccination campaign begun by the MOH in November 2020. The types of vaccines used were OxfordÃ¢??AstraZeneca, PfizerÃ¢?? BioNTech and Moderna. Ethics approval for the study was obtained from the MOH (IRB Log. No: 21-125M).

Data analysis

The collected data were tabulated and analysed using mathematic statistic. The descriptive statistics included both numbers and percentages to describe incidences of confirmed diagnoses of COVID-19, critical cases of the illness and deaths from it in residents who had been vaccinated for COVID-19. Cross-tabulations were performed to clarify the numbers of residents vaccinated, the types of vaccines used and the number of doses in each case.

Results

The study included 2000 participants, 41.55% of whom were male and 58.45% of whom were female. Table 1 shows the participants’ demographic characteristics.

Gender	Male	831 (41.55%)
Gender	Female	1169 (58.45%)
Age group in years	<20	194 (9.60%)
	20Ã¢??49	1342 (66.20%)
	50Ã¢??69	306 (15.10%)
	>70	186 (9.80%)

Table 1: Demographic characteristics.

Table 2 illustrates the number of participants vaccinated with each type of COVID-19 vaccine and the number of doses that each participant received.

Vaccine type	Number of doses	Number of participants
First dose	OxfordÃ¢??AstraZeneca	1459
	PfizerÃ¢??BioNTech	451
	Moderna	95
Second dose	OxfordÃ¢??AstraZeneca	1264
	PfizerÃ¢??BioNTech	567
	Moderna	155
Third dose	OxfordÃ¢??AstraZeneca	0
	PfizerÃ¢??BioNTech	1678
	Moderna	235

Table 2: Number of participants vaccinated with each vaccine type and the number of doses received.

In vaccinated residents of CRC, the rate of confirmed diagnoses with COVID-19 was 6.2% (n=124), while there was only one critical case (0.05%) admitted to an ICU and no deaths of vaccinated residents during the study period.

Discussion

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations campaigns administered to CRC residents in the KSA. The rates of confirmed diagnoses of and critical illness from COVID-19 were low: 6.2% (n=124) and 0.05% (n=1), respectively. There were no fatalities due to COVID-19 during the study period.

The study’s initial findings showed that the average rate of COVID-19 infections decreased from 44.3% (8) to 6.2% and that critical cases were very few (0.05%; n=1) for vaccinated residents of CRCs. This indicates that providing vaccinations against COVID-19 for this population played a conclusive role in reducing the rate of both infections and critical cases of COVID-19 in CRC residents in the KSA. This finding was supported by previous studies that demonstrated that COVID-19 vaccinations reduced transmission of the infection and hospitalisation caused by it [5,6].

This study also examined whether mortalities due to COVID-19 decreased in CRC residents after they had received COVID-19 vaccinations. The results showed that the mortality rate was 0% among CRC residents who had received COVID-19 vaccinations, a result better than that of a 2020 study in which the mortality rate was 2.25% pre COVID-19 vaccinations [8]. This suggests that COVID-19 vaccinations were effective in preventing mortality in CRC in the KSA. This finding agrees with those of previous studies that reported that COVID-19 vaccinations protected recipients from the disease and saved lives [5,6].

Furthermore, the Strict COVID-19 infection control measures instituted in KSA may assist limiting rates of COVID-19 infection, and mortality in vaccinated residents of CRC [8]. The study’s limitation was that it did not address COVID-19 symptoms in the study population. Notwithstanding this, the study’s results highlighted the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in CRC residents. Further studies are needed on the potential side effects associated with COVID-19 vaccination in aged and disabled CRC residents [9-12].

Conclusion

In summary, KSA MOH and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development demonstrate clear pattern of decline in rates of infection with COVID-19, death, critical illness from the disease and mortality caused by it among vaccinated residents with COVID-19 vaccines in CRC in the KSA.