The 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccines provided protection against <a href="https://healthylife7.com/nfl-medical-news-neurodegenerative-disease-mortality-study-results/” title=”NFL Medical News: Neurodegenerative Disease Mortality Study Results”>medically attended infection in immunocompetent adults, highlighting the capacity of targeted immunizations to mitigate severe clinical outcomes associated with circulating viral lineages.
The 2025-2026 SARS-CoV-2 vaccines provided protection against emergency department/urgent care (ED/UC) visits and hospitalizations among individuals with COVID-19-like illness, according to study findings published in JAMA Network Open
Researchers performed a test-negative, case-control study to estimate the interim effectiveness of 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Novavax against medically attended infection in immunocompetent adults. Released in September 2025, these vaccines targeted JN.1 and JN.1-derived lineages of the virus. To assess outcomes, the researchers analyzed electronic health records from the VISION network between September and December of 2025. The final dataset comprised clinical data from 5 major health systems across 7 states.
Individuals with a positive molecular or antigen SARS-CoV-2 test 10 days before to 3 days after an encounter with the health care system due to having COVID-19-like illness were compared with individuals who had a negative test result
A total of 85,725 ED/UC visits were included in the final analysis. The median patient age was 56 years, and 60% were women. Overall, 5% of those with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result around the time of the encounter and 12% of control individuals had received a 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine at least 7 days prior, which equates to an estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 50% (95% CI, 42-57). The median time since receiving the vaccine was 47 (IQR, 27-69) days
These findings suggest that adults can reduce their likelihood of severe COVID-19-associated outcomes by obtaining a 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccination
The analysis also included 26,073 hospitalizations among patients with COVID-19-like illness (median age, 72 years; 54% women). The proportion of patients who had received a COVID-19 vaccine was 6% among those with a positive test result and 12% among the control group, for an estimated VE of 55% (95% CI, 41-66). The median time since receipt of the vaccine was 46 (IQR, 26-68) days
Estimates of VE against ED/UC visits and hospitalizations were similar in the subset of patients aged 65 years and older
Study limitations include the possibility that some case patients may have visited an ED/UC for reasons that did not involve COVID-19, which would lower VE estimates; possible misclassification of vaccination status; a limited ability to examine VE against critical illness in various groups due to low rates of vaccination and hospitalization; and the potential for residual confounding from unmeasured factors
According to the researchers, “These findings suggest that adults can reduce their likelihood of severe COVID-19-associated outcomes by obtaining a 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccination.”
Disclosure: Multiple study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures
Wiegand RE, Chickery S, Yang DH, et al.Interim estimated effectiveness of 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccines in adults using a test-negative design.JAMA Netw Open. Published online June 23, 2026. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.2515
