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Ever since the World Health Organization officially declared the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic, people are trying to understand the virulence and characteristic of the disease. With new variants being discovered every other month, the best bet against the deadly coronavirus remains the vaccines. Getting fully vaccinated is the most effective way to ensure protection against highly transmissible variants like the Delta variant.
While experts believe that vaccinations are the only sword to curb the disease, the news of side effects after getting the Covid-19 vaccine has raised alarm among the masses, especially among people with comorbidities. For example, cancer patients are more vulnerable to develop a severe form of illness due to Covid-19, but the benefits outweigh the risks of getting vaccinated. The good news is that cancer patients may develop a protective immune response to Covid vaccines without experiencing any more side effects.
Evidence presented virtually to a global audience at the annual congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) found that covid-19 vaccines produce an adequate, protective immune response in cancer patients, with no additional adverse effects than in the general population. The report also suggested that a third "booster" dose could raise this patient population's level of protection even more.
Patients with cancer were not allowed to participate in the clinical trials that led to the development of the Covid-19 vaccines and their approval for usage.
To understand the effects of vaccines in this vulnerable group, the researchers explored the effects of chemotherapy and immunotherapy on the protection afforded by vaccination against Covid-19. For the study, the researchers enrolled 791 patients from multiple hospitals in the Netherlands and measured their response to Moderna's two-dose vaccine.
Individuals without cancer, cancer patients treated with immunotherapy, cancer patients treated with chemotherapy, and cancer patients treated with a chemo-immunotherapy combination were among the participants. Adequate levels of viral antibodies in the blood were identified in 84 per cent of patients undergoing chemotherapy, 89 per cent of patients getting chemo-immunotherapy, and 93 per cent of patients receiving immunotherapy alone 28 days after the second dosage.
The research data also revealed that just roughly one-third of those undergoing chemotherapy alone or in combination with immunotherapy had an adequate response after their first shot, compared to half of those who were cancer-free. This finding was confirmed in a second investigation of the effects of the Pfizer vaccine on 232 cancer patients and 261 healthy volunteers in Israel.
While less than a third of cancer patients produced antibodies after getting the first dosage, compared to 84 per cent in the control group, this proportion jumped to 86 per cent when the second dose was given. Only two occurrences of Covid-19 were recorded throughout the research period, both of which occurred in patients who had not yet received their second dose, showing the vaccine's efficacy.
Another study was presented at the meeting, which involved 585 cancer patients who got two doses of either Pfizer's Covid-19 Vaccine or AstraZeneca's Covid-19 Vaccine in the UK. Those who had previously contracted Covid-19 (31%), for example, had larger levels of virus-neutralizing antibodies, which protected them against variations like Delta, for which vaccination is less effective.
According to Luis Castelo-Branco, Medical Oncologist, ESMO Scientific and Medical Division, the "findings lend additional support to the principle of offering the complete cycle, possibly including a third booster dose, to patients with cancer to improve their protection."
(with inputs from agencies)