Breakthrough COVID-19 often severe in cancer patients

Reuters - 27/12/2021 - Vaccinated people with cancer should not underestimate their risks from breakthrough cases of COVID-19, researchers warn.

The 54 cancer patients in their study became infected despite receiving a two-dose vaccine from Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech or a single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, before booster doses were recommended. Overall, 65% needed to be hospitalized, 19% ended up in intensive care units, and 13% died, according to data from the international COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium.

The study did not analyze the vaccines' efficacy at preventing infections in the first place. But among those who did become infected, COVID-19 was no less severe than it was in a comparison group of 1,656 unvaccinated cancer patients with COVID-19, researchers reported on in Annals of Oncology.

The risks were greatest for patients with blood cancers.

"Many studies ... have suggested that patients with cancer don't create a strong immune response, and this is the first large study that likely shows the consequences of this," said Dr. Jeremy Warner of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "Additional doses and boosters are critical, as are continued masking, social distancing, and encouragement of all close contacts of patients with cancer to get vaccinated."

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3pz0sYU Annals of Oncology, online December 24, 2021.

By Reuters Staff



Posted on 27 December, 202112 January, 2022