Early Elevated Inflammatory Markers in SARS-CoV-2 Vaccinated Patients Are Associated with Reduced Mortality, Morbidity, and Lung Injury

Background The development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 has proved to be a highly successful strategy. In this work, the aim is to study the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on the production of inflammatory markers and how this affect morbidity and mortality. Electronic medical record (EMR) data from 210 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from November 2020 to June 2021 were collected. The admitted patients were divided into three groups, the one-dose vaccinated, two-dose vaccinated, and the non-vaccinated. All patients were moderate or severe in disease level as defined by the WHO classification. The results show that CRP was 101 ± 5.3, 97 ± 10.8, and 145 ± 17.3 (p < 0.05), fibrinogen 529 ± 16.3, 397 ± 33.8, and 610 ± 15 (p < 0.05), D-dimer 1244 ± 89, 1279 ± 297, and 1615 ± 224 (p < 0.05), ferritin was 1170 ± 122, 999 ± 202, and 1663 ± 409 (p < 0.05), IL-6 was 196 ± 12, 96 ± 5, and 580 ± 402 (NS), for the non-vaccinated, one-dose vaccinated, and two-dose vaccinated groups, respectively. The high level of CRP up to 150–200 mg/dL was more common among the surviving vaccinated patients. Oxygen supplementation, mechanical ventilation, and mortality were higher in the non-vaccinated group. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level was higher in the vaccinated patients, 25 ± 0.14 vs. 33 ± 6.15, respectively (p < 0.05). Inflammation markers were significantly higher in the vaccinated groups compared to non-vaccinated groups. On the other hand, extremely high levels of CRP (>200 mg/dL) were correlated with high mortality incidence.