in tomorrow Nature Communications one discovery A study on cancer shows that vaccinated patients and those who received a COVID-19 booster dose are more protected from death and serious complications than unvaccinated patients.
Cancer patients were not included in major randomized clinical trials on vaccine efficacy (VE), but they are at increased risk of death and severe disease from COVID-19 infection, the study authors wrote. Those particularly at risk include lung cancer patients, those with hematologic cancers, and those undergoing chemotherapy.
The authors said prospective data on immunogenicity following initial vaccination showed that cancer patients develop protective antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, but at a lower rate than the general population.
In the study, Spanish researchers looked at data from a clinical registry on 184,744 cancer patients in Catalonia, Spain. Half of the patients (92,372) had received at least the first complete vaccination series, and the other half (92,372) were not vaccinated at the time of the study.
All participants had received a cancer diagnosis from 2015 to 2020. The most common cancers were breast, prostate, and colorectal.
The authors reported that the proportion of people who received one, two and three (booster) doses of COVID-19 vaccines were 87.2%, 84.9% and 68.2%, respectively.
Vaccine protection reduced to 120 days
The researchers found that cancer patients had a 51.8% (95% confidence interval) [CI]Protection against COVID-19 hospitalization and COVID-19 death was 40.3% to 61.1% and 58.4% (95% CI, 29.3% to 75.5%), respectively, after full (two-dose) vaccination and 77.9% (95% CI, 69.2% to 84.2%) and 80.2% (95% CI, 63.0% to 89.4%) after a booster dose.
The authors reported that protection from the booster dose was high, around 75%, but decreased significantly 120 days after injection.
The authors concluded that “patients should be encouraged to get vaccinated if they have not received any, and should be boosted if they have only received two doses.” “Due to the higher risk of breakthrough infection, hospitalization, and death compared with healthy individuals, cancer patients should be prioritized in future additional dosing studies and vaccination campaigns.”
Patients should be encouraged to get vaccinated if they have not yet received the vaccine, and to get vaccinated if they have only received two doses.
ISGlobal's press release said: Ottavio Ranzani, MD, PhD, co-senior author on the study, said the results “This clearly demonstrates that vaccination against COVID-19 significantly reduces mortality and serious complications in cancer patients, particularly in those who have received a booster dose.”