Project #110:
COVID-19 vaccine coverage and effectiveness in chronic kidney disease patients

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of several factors that makes a person substantially more vulnerable to COVID-19. Not only are individuals with CKD at greater risk of severe disease if infected, but they are less likely to respond adequately to current COVID-19 vaccines. Accordingly, individuals with CKD were among the earliest to be offered COVID-19 vaccines in the UK, and have subsequently been offered up to two further doses with the aim of providing stronger and more durable protection against severe disease.

This project will use the OpenSAFELY platform to answer two key questions. First, what levels of vaccine coverage have been achieved in CKD patients? Second, how does vaccine effectiveness (VE) vary among CKD patients who have received different types of vaccine? Where possible, the project will distinguish between key subgroups of CKD patients, such as those who have received organ transplants or dialysis. For the analyses of VE, key objectives will be to compare vectored (ChAdOx1-S) versus mRNA (BNT162b2) vaccines, and heterologous (“mix-and-match”) versus homologous (single type) schedules.

The study will thus identify how effectively CKD patients have been reached during different phases of vaccine roll-out, and how effective different vaccination strategies have been in this vulnerable population.