Initial impact of SARS-Cov-2 vaccination on healthcare workers in Italy– Update on the 28th of March 2021

•By March 2021, most healthcare workers had received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.•The number of COVID-19 cases reported as healthcare workers has significantly decreased.•This reduction suggests that vaccines are effective in reducing infection in this group. In Italy, the COVID-19 vaccination campaign started in December 2020 with the vaccination of healthcare workers (HCW). To analyse the real-life impact that vaccination is having on this population group, we measured the association between week of diagnosis and HCW status using log-binomial regression. By the week 22–28 March, we observed a 74% reduction (PPR 0.26; 95% CI 0.22–0.29) in the proportion of cases reported as HCW and 81% reduction in the proportion of symptomatic cases reported as HCW, compared with the week with the lowest proportion of cases among HCWs prior to the vaccination campaign (31 August-7 September). The reduction, both in relative and absolute terms, of COVID-19 cases in HCWs that started around 30 days after the start of the vaccination campaign suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are being effective in preventing infection in this group.