A posteriori analysis of COVID-19 public interventions through vaccine effectiveness

Details

Supervisors

Jungers, Raphaël M.

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil en mathématiques appliquées, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

Vaccines induce an immune response against diseases upon exposure to a pathogen and they have been created to prevent infections and confer protection against severe infections and diseases. In line with this concept, the objective of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign is to minimize the transmission and severity of the disease, mitigating the devastating consequences it has had on public health. However, various factors can impact the effectiveness of vaccination, including the creation of new variations and the virus's behaviour, making it complex to control the virus's spread. While COVID-19 vaccines have demonstrated high efficacy in clinical trial settings, however, assessing their effectiveness in the real world can be more complex. Through the study of real-world data, researchers can assess the level of protection offered by vaccines, within various approaches, including Relative Risk Reduction, Case-Control studies, and Test-Negative studies. This allows the continuous monitoring and assessment of the impact of vaccination programs, identification of potential challenges, and informs future strategies to control the spread of COVID-19. In this thesis, we explore the techniques and results provided by Sciensano in Belgium and complement them with additional techniques to estimate vaccine effectiveness. The investigations are then conducted through three different approaches in Belgium and France and a comparison is done between the results in both countries.