(HealthDay News) — The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) appears to be safe and achieves satisfactory serologic status in patients with cancer, according to a study published online in JAMA Oncology.
Tal Goshen-Lago, PhD, from Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel, and colleagues evaluated the efficacy and safety of the BNT162b2 vaccine in 232 patients undergoing treatment for cancer and 261 age-matched health care workers who served as controls.
The researchers found that after the first dose of BNT162b2 vaccine, 29% of cancer patients were seropositive versus 84% of controls. The seropositive rate reached 86% in the cancer patients after the second dose. There was reduced immunogenicity seen in patients undergoing chemotherapy (odds ratio, 0.41). The rate of documented absolute leukopenia reached 39% in seronegative patients. There were 2 cases of COVID-19 in the patient cohort immediately after the first dose. Adverse events were similar to trials of mostly healthy individuals.
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“Future real-world data are warranted to determine the long-term efficacy of the vaccine with regard to type of anticancer treatment,” the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to Pfizer.
