Post-vaccination COVID-19 cases among healthcare workers at Siloam Teaching Hospital, Indonesia

Cucunawangsih, Cucunawangsih; Wijaya, Ratna Sari; Lugito, Nata Pratama Hardjo; Suriapranata, Ivet

Background Healthcare workers (HCWs) compared to the general population are at an increased risk of exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Therefore, they are given priority for the COVID-19 vaccine in the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Indonesia. However, when the daily new COVID-19 cases are still high, and the data regarding the vaccine’s efficacy in healthcare settings remains unavailable, the vaccinated HCWs still likely to get COVID-19 infection and at risk for further transmission. Objective To identify COVID-19 cases among vaccinated HCWs at Siloam Teaching Hospital, Indonesia, via active and passive surveillance conducted by the hospital’s COVID-19 infection prevention and control unit Results Among 1,040 HCWs who have received the first and second vaccination, 13 (1.25%) HCWs were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from 2-11 days (median five days) after the second vaccination. Conclusion The early laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 among post-vaccinated HCWs indicates that HCWs are still at risk to acquire COVID-19 disease during the vaccination campaign. Therefore, the presence of symptoms after vaccination cannot be considered as vaccine-related symptoms, and regular COVID-19 testing should be conducted among HCWs.