Key clinical point: Individuals who had received diphtheria or tetanus vaccinations in the last 10 years were less likely to develop severe COVID-19 compared with those who had not received them.
Major finding: The study included 103,049 participants (mean age, 71.5 years; 54.2% women) with vaccination records for the past 10 years and data on COVID-19 testing.
Study details: Individuals who had been vaccinated against diphtheria (odds ratio [OR], 0.47; 95% CI, 0.33-0.68; P = .000053) and tetanus (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.37-0.72; P = .00012) in the last 10 years had a lower likelihood of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms compared with those who had not received them.
Disclosures: The study was funded by the Research Council of Norway, the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, Stiftelsen Kristian Gerhard Jebsen, The European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, and National Institutes of Health. O Andreassen and J Pinzón-Espinosa reported relationships with various pharmaceutical companies. The remaining authors declared no conflict of interests.
Source: Monereo-Sánchez J et al. Front Immunol. 2021 Oct 7. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.749264 .