United States: In a recent publication in Nature Communications, a research study revealed that cancer patients who are fully vaccinated and have received COVID-19 booster shots experience heightened protection against severe complications and mortality compared to those who are not vaccinated.
Cancer patients were especially omitted from main population randomized controlled trials to ascertain vaccine efficacy in terms of VE despite being at a higher risk of serious disease and mortality from COVID-19. The most prevalent infection is more common in those with lung cancer, hematologic malignancies, and those who are being treated with chemotherapy, as highlighted by the CIDRAP News.
The authors of the study also present some evidence from other oncology studies suggesting that in terms of immune responsiveness following the first vaccination, it remains within the normal range of tolerance and levels cancer patients do produce protective antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 but at a slightly lower scale compared to other populations.
The meta-study carried out by Spanish researchers involved data from clinical registries enrolling 184744 cancer patients from Catalonia, Spain. Among them, 92,372 patients have had at least a basic immunization series done, and the others had not gotten any vaccination when the data was collected through 2015-2020. According to CIDRAP, the most common types of cancer of the enlisted participants were breast, prostate, and colon/rectal cancer.
Supposing the effectiveness of the present vaccines decreases after 120 days.
Scientists discovered that even though those with cancer had a relatively low percentage of full vaccination, which is two doses, the individuals displayed 51%. According to Douek et al., two doses of vaccine provided 8% protection against COVID-19 hospitalization with an efficacy estimate of 95% CI, 40. Heterogeneous data also provided a 4% risk reduction for COVID-19 mortality (95% CI, 29. 3% to 75. 5%). When a person has taken a booster dose, the protection rates increase to 77%, as confirmed by the report. 9% (95% CI 69. 2%-84. 2%) against hospitalization and 80 percent for decreasing the risk of severe illness in adults with at least one comorbidity. 2% (95% CI 0. 63 to 0. 89) against mortality. Nevertheless, protection was only marginally improved and seemed to decline considerably within 120 days of inoculation.
Reportedly, the authors concluded that patients should be strongly encouraged to receive vaccinations, and those who have only completed two doses should receive booster shots. They emphasized the importance of prioritizing cancer patients in future studies assessing additional vaccine doses and in vaccination drives due to their heightened susceptibility to breakthrough infections, hospitalizations, and mortality compared to the general population.
Commenting on the study in a press release by ISGlobal, Otavio Ranzani, MD, PhD, co-senior author, highlighted that the findings unequivocally underscore the role of COVID-19 vaccination in substantially reducing mortality and severe complications among cancer patients, particularly those who have received booster doses.