Effects of mobility, immunity and vaccination on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the Dominican Republic: a modelling study

COVID-19 dynamics are driven by a complex interplay of factors including population behaviour, new variants, vaccination and immunity from prior infections. We quantify drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the Dominican Republic, an upper-middle income country of 10.8 million people. We then assess the impact of the vaccination campaign implemented in February 2021, primarily using CoronaVac, in saving lives and averting hospitalisations.

We fit an age-structured, multi-variant transmission dynamic model to reported deaths, hospital bed occupancy, and seroprevalence data until December 2021, and simulate epidemic trajectories under different counterfactual scenarios.

We estimate that vaccination averted 7210 hospital admissions (95% credible interval, CrI: 6830-7600), 2180 intensive care unit admissions (95% CrI: 2080-2280) and 766 deaths (95% CrI: 694-859) in the first 6 months of the campaign. If no vaccination had occurred, we estimate that an additional decrease of 10-20% in population mobility would have been required to maintain equivalent death and hospitalisation outcomes. We also found that early vaccination with CoronaVac was preferable to delayed vaccination using a product with higher efficacy.

SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in the Dominican Republic were driven by a substantial accumulation of immunity during the first two years of the pandemic but, despite this, vaccination was essential in enabling a return to pre-pandemic mobility levels without considerable additional morbidity and mortality.

Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, US CDC and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.