Booster vaccination of adults with measles-mumps-rubella may provide
partial protection against COVID-19 disease
Abstract
Aims: The study aimed to investigate COVID-19 seropositivity rate in
vaccinated and non-vaccinated adult groups to see if booster live
attenuated vaccinations have a protective effect against COVID-19 in an
isolated cluster of adults. Methods: Our retrospective cohort study was
conducted on 257 participants who were tested for COVID-19 PCR and
shared the same accommodation and the same dining hall. Participants
were divided according to their vaccination status into two groups. The
rate of COVID-19 seropositivity, age, body mass index (BMI), active
smoking, presence of comorbidity was compared between these two groups.
Results: 245 of 257 people accepted to participate in the study and
36.7% (n = 90) were COVID 19 positive. All of the participants were
healthy, male, young adults. The non-vaccinated cases (n=207) had higher
rates of COVID-19 seropositivity than the vaccinated cases (n=38)
(40.6% vs 15.8%)(Odds ratio [95%Cl]=3.6 [1.5-9.0], p=0.004),
while who were similar in terms of age, comorbidities rates, active
smoking status and BMI (p=0.305, p=0.594, p=0.280 and p=0.922,
respectively). Conclusion: Based on these results, we cautiously predict
that immunity produced by MMR vaccination boosters may make adults less
susceptible to COVID-19. Keywords: COVID-19; live attenuated vaccines;
booster vaccination; MMR.