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Research: High mortality for fully vaccinated coronavirus cancer patients

Fully vaccinated two-dose cancer patients, who then become infected with coronavirus (breakthrough infection), have a higher risk of hospitalization and death, according to a new US scientific study, the first of its kind in Covid-19 vaccinated cancer patients. , whose main researcher was a Greek scientist of the Diaspora.

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and other institutions who published their findings in the Annals of Oncology analyzed data from 1,787 cancer patients, including Covid-19. The vast majority were unvaccinated and 54 were fully vaccinated with Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna, almost half of whom had reduced lymphocyte levels (T and B cells that play a vital role in the immune response to the coronavirus and other viruses). This lymphopenia often occurs in cancer patients who receive monoclonal antibodies or take CAR-T treatments for hematologic malignancies, such as lymphoma and leukemia.

It was found that of the fully vaccinated who became infected with the coronavirus, 65% (two in three) needed treatment, 19% (one in five) were intubated and 13% died. The study reinforces previous observations that patients with haematological cancers are at higher risk for severe Covid-19.

“Cancer patients who develop breakthrough Covid-1 infection, even if fully vaccinated, can have a serious disease outcome, including death. Therefore, in their case and in the foreseeable future, a multifaceted mask, social distance and booster vaccine, “said researcher Tony Chueri, a professor of oncology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Lank Center for Urogenital Oncology at the Dana-Farber Institute in Boston.

However, due to the small number of vaccinated cancer patients infected with the coronavirus, the researchers said that at present no definitive conclusions can be drawn as to which specific anti-cancer therapies may be more related to the likelihood of Covid-19 infection. However, those taking corticosteroids also seem to be at greater risk of needing treatment.

Lead researcher Dimitris Farmakiotis, an associate professor of infectious diseases at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School and Rhode Island Hospital, who is a graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, said that similarly high and in other populations of immunocompromised patients, such as those who have had an organ transplant before a booster dose, these findings come at a time of concern that variants such as Omicron, “Thus, immunosuppressed and their close contacts should be primarily targets for therapeutic and preventive interventions.”

Source: AMPE

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Source From: Capital

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