Abstract:

This study aims to observe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of recovered patients from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) related to the vaccination status. We examined results of 205 COVID-19-recovered patients from 15 December 2021 to 1 March 2022 in two hospitals of Local Health Authority of Alessandria (Italy) during the fourth pandemic wave. 77% of patients were hospitalized for acute respiratory failure (ARF) with radiological pneumonia pattern (recovered for COVID), 23% for other causes with occasional positivity finding (recovered with COVID). 32% of patients were not vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2, 37% had three doses, 25% two doses, 5% only one dose. All patients without vaccination were hospitalized for ARF and they had a 7 times higher risk of hospitalization than the vaccinated. 60% of all patients had ≥3 comorbidities, of these 50% was vaccinated with three doses. In the fourth pandemic wave compared to the other not all patients were hospitalized for ARF and pneumonia and the presence of comorbidities ≥3 is a risk factor for hospitalization regardless of vaccination status. This justifies the administration of the fourth dose to frail patients.

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