Introduction & Objective: Diabetes is associated with an increased risk for severe COVID-19. A subanalysis of a retrospective observational cohort study was conducted to evaluate the relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) of 2 previously approved bivalent vaccines that target the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and the omicron BA.4/BA.5 variant, mRNA-1273.222 (Moderna, Inc.) and BNT162b2 bivalent (Pfizer-BioNTech), in US adults with diabetes.

Methods: The study used a US electronic health record dataset (Veradigm) linked with medical claims data of adults aged ≥18 years with ≥1 underlying medical condition associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19 who received a dose of mRNA-1273.222 or BNT162b2 bivalent vaccines between August 31, 2022, and February 28, 2023. The current analysis included a subgroup of individuals with type 1 or type 2 diabetes identified in the dataset by ICD-10 diagnostic code. The rVE was measured against COVID-19-related hospitalizations and COVID-19-related outpatient visits. Follow-up started 7 days after vaccination until May 31, 2023. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for baseline differences between groups.

Results: Of 639,868 individuals with diabetes included in the analysis, 252,635 received mRNA-1273.222, and 387,233 received BNT162b2 bivalent (post-weighting). After weighting, no variables had an SMD >0.1 therefore no adjustments were made to rVE estimates. The adjusted rVEs of mRNA-1273.222 versus BNT162b2 bivalent vaccine against COVID-19-related hospitalizations and outpatient visits were 15.1% (95% CI, 8.7%-21.0%) and 3.7% (95% CI, 1.2%-6.2%), respectively.

Conclusion: We found greater effectiveness of mRNA-1273.222 compared with the BNT162b2 bivalent vaccine in preventing COVID-19—related hospitalizations in this cohort of individuals with diabetes. This study emphasizes the importance of assessing COVID-19 vaccine formulations in high-risk adults, including those with diabetes.

Disclosure

H. Kopel: Employee; Moderna, Inc. Stock/Shareholder; Moderna, Inc. V. Nguyen: Employee; VHN Consulting Inc. Other Relationship; Moderna, Inc. A. Bogdanov: Employee; Veradigm. Other Relationship; Moderna, Inc. I. Winer: Employee; Veradigm. Other Relationship; Moderna, Inc. C. Boileau: Employee; VHN Consulting Inc. Other Relationship; Moderna, Inc. T. Ducruet: Employee; VHN Consulting Inc. Other Relationship; Moderna, Inc. N. Zeng: Employee; Veradigm. Other Relationship; Moderna, Inc. M. Bausch-Jurken: Employee; Moderna, Inc. Stock/Shareholder; Moderna, Inc. D.B. Esposito: Employee; Moderna, Inc. Stock/Shareholder; Moderna, Inc. E. Beck: Employee; Moderna, Inc. Stock/Shareholder; Moderna, Inc. M. Bonafede: Employee; Veradigm. Other Relationship; Moderna, Inc. J.A. Mansi: Employee; Moderna, Inc. Stock/Shareholder; Moderna, Inc.

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