94% of cancer patients respond well to COVID-19 vaccine

https://news.uthscsa.edu/94-of-patients-with-cancer-respond-well-to-covid-19-vaccines/ 

Commentary

A study in the United States and Switzerland investigated the response of cancer patients to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

According to the results, almost all of the cancer patients showed a good immune response to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine three to four weeks after receiving the second dose, but some did not respond to the virus.

Of the 131 eligible patients, 94% will develop antibodies to coronavirus tomorrow, but seven high-risk patients did not show this response.

This result appears to support the hypothesis that the immune response to other vaccines and infections is not as strong in cancer patients as in the general population, as it has been shown. In particular, patients with hematologic malignancies such as myeloma and Hodgkin lymphoma are less likely to respond to vaccination, according to Pankhil K. Shah, M.D., of the Mays Cancer Center.

In the high-risk group that had no immune response, antibodies could not be identified in patients who received the treatment, called rituximab, within six months of vaccination. Patients receiving potentially cell-damaging chemotherapy did show an antibody response, but it was a suppressed response compared to the general population.

The median age of the subjects was 63 years, and most patients (106) had solid tumors as opposed to hematologic malignancies (25). The study population was 80 percent non-Hispanic white, 18 percent Hispanic, and 2 percent black.

The results suggest that two doses of vaccine should be given to cancer patients, but that additional research should be done on methods for patients with no antibody response.