He Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center promoted by the La Caixa Foundation, and the Jordi Gol Primary Care Research Institute (IDIAPJGol) have led a study that recommends administering additional doses of the vaccine to people with cancer to boost their immunitythey reported this Wednesday in a statement.
The research, published in the journal ‘Nature Communications‘, has studied the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines in 184,744 cancer patients included in the database of the information system for the development of research in primary care, Sidiap.
Half of the patients analyzed (92,372) had received the first complete immunization consisting of two inoculations of the vaccine, while the other half had not been vaccinated at the time of the study.
Cancer patients have a higher risk of death from Covid-19especially those who have lung cancer, hematological malignancies or are undergoing systemic treatment, such as chemotherapy.
Cancer patients are at increased risk of death from Covid-19, especially those who have lung cancer, hematological malignancies or are undergoing systemic treatment, such as chemotherapy.
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Mortality rate
The results indicate that the mortality and complication rate among cancer patients not vaccinated against the coronavirus is double the same rate among those who have received the full first dose.
ISGlobal researcher Otavio Ranzani stated that the results “clearly demonstrate that vaccination against Covid-19 significantly reduces mortality and serious complications among cancer patients, especially those who have received the booster dose.”
Towards the protection of the vulnerable population
Previous studies warned that Cancer patients could develop fewer protective antibodies against the virus than the general populationand this work, the “most complete carried out so far on this issue”, has confirmed these data.
IDIAPJGol researcher Talita Duarte-Sallés explained “this work provides essential information to understand the impact of vaccination against Covid-19” on this vulnerable population and helps design public health policies that protect them.
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