A recent report examined COVID-19 cases in nursing homes across the United States. It tracked weekly rates of lab-confirmed COVID-19 from October 2022 to January 2023. The report compared case rates among residents based on whether they were up to date with their recommended COVID-19 vaccinations.
The main finding was that weekly COVID-19 case rates were lower among residents who were up to date with their shots. The report did not provide specific numbers on how much lower the rates were or any statistical measures of the difference. It also did not report any information on safety concerns or side effects from the vaccinations during this period.
It is important to be careful with these results. This was an observational report, which means it can show a pattern or link, but it cannot prove that getting the updated shot directly caused someone to have a lower chance of getting COVID-19. Other factors could be involved. The report did not give details on the size of the effect.
Readers should take from this that, in this specific setting and time period, being current with COVID-19 vaccination was associated with lower weekly case numbers. This adds to the ongoing picture of how vaccines perform in high-risk groups like nursing home residents. However, the lack of detailed numbers means we don't know the strength of this link.