High attack rate of COVID-19 in an organized tour group of vaccinated travellers to Iceland

Shmuel Benenson; Miriam Ottolenghi; Matan J Cohen; Ran Nir-Paz; Yonatan Oster

doi:10.1093/jtm/taab157

High attack rate of COVID-19 in an organized tour group of vaccinated travellers to Iceland

J Travel Med. 2021 Dec 29;28(8):taab157. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taab157.

Authors

Shmuel Benenson^{1

2}, Miriam Ottolenghi^{1

2}, Matan J Cohen³, Ran Nir-Paz^{1

2}, Yonatan Oster^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
² Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
³ Clalit Health Services, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract

In a COVID-19 outbreak in a group of 25 twice-vaccinated Israeli travellers, the attack rate was 84%, despite negative preflight polymerase chain reaction tests. This extremely high breakthrough infection rate is attributed mainly to close and prolonged exposures during long bus drives. Masking, distancing and personal responsibility are required to avoid such outbreaks.

Keywords: BNT162b2 vaccine; PCR testing; SARS-CoV-2; breakthrough infection; international flights; masking; protective measures.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Iceland
Incidence
SARS-CoV-2