COVID-19 Booster Shot is Extremely Beneficial for Cancer Patients

New research gives data-driven answers about when vaccine protection from COVID-19 wanes for individuals with the compromised immune system and offers clear guidance about the necessity of vaccination for people with cancer.

Most cancer patients who had no measurable immune response after being fully vaccinated for COVID-19 were helped by a third vaccine dose, according to a new study by investigators at the Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center (MECC). The findings were published in Cancer Cell.

“The speed of recommendations and treatments for COVID-19 has been incredible, but many questions have remained regarding the safety and necessity of booster shots,” said Lauren Shapiro, M.D., co-first author of the paper with Astha Thakkar, M.B.B.S, both third-year hematology/oncology fellows at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine”.

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‘The COVID-19 booster shot is useful for cancer patients, who face a heightened risk of severe disease and dying from COVID-19, and particularly in people who have blood cancer.’

The new study involved two groups of patients with cancer. The first was composed of 99 people who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

They were tested after their initial vaccination for the presence of antiviral antibodies in their blood—the sign of an active immune response that would reduce their risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19.

For most patients with detectable antibodies, their antibody levels declined when testing was repeated 4 to 6 months later.

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The people in the second group, made up of 88 fully vaccinated patients with cancer, were also tested for the presence of antiviral antibodies in their blood.

Sixty-four percent of them had detectable antibodies, while the remaining patients (all but one of whom had blood cancer) tested negative for antibodies.

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All participants—people with and without antibodies—then received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Four weeks later, when their blood was again tested, 79.5% (70 out of 88 people) had antibody levels that were higher than before they received their booster shot.

Most notably, 56% of cancer patients who previously had no detectable antibodies after standard vaccination now had them after receiving their booster shot.

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A new study published in Cancer Discovery found that COVID-19 patients with blood cancers had significantly higher mortality rates compared with patients who had solid tumors.

In a follow-up study, they reported their findings on patients’ response to their initial COVID-19 infection and reported on cancer patients’ initial responses to COVID-19 vaccination.

Source-Medindia