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UPMC: Covid vaccine may not be as effective for immune-compromised - TribLIVE

UPMC: Covid vaccine may not be as effective for immune-compromised - TribLIVE

UPMC: Covid vaccine may not be as effective for immune-compromised - TribLIVE
Apr 09, 2021 1 min, 55 secs

UPMC experts on Friday shared new data related to the effectiveness of the covid-19 vaccines on patients with compromised immune systems – suggesting that, for some people, the vaccines are less effective at preventing infection.

Researchers searched for antibodies via blood tests of 70 volunteer residents of UPMC Senior Communities, as well as 67 patients with cancers affecting blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes.

“The levels varied significantly among individuals, but all of them had antibodies, and I do want to reinforce that point,” he said.

But he said those infections were all asymptomatic, suggesting that even with fewer antibodies, the vaccine was offering some level of protection to older people.

Ghady Haidar, a UPMC transplant infectious diseases physician, said 54% of the patients’ blood who had been sampled produced detectable antibodies, while 46% did not.

There was a subset of patients with a specific type of blood cancer called chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were tested: 77% of CLL patients did not produce any antibodies.

Haidar emphasized that while a sizeable portion of the patients didn’t develop the antibodies, more than half did — which he said is “relatively effective.”.

Haidar and Nace said they weren’t surprised by the results: immune-compromised patients, including the elderly, already have diminished responses to most vaccines, such as the influenza vaccine.

“If you go by the influenza literature, for example, there’s a lot of data out there in people with cancer and transplants that show such people don’t respond to vaccines as well as people with normal immune systems.

The data shared reflects only UPMC patients, though physicians said the findings are consistent with studies in other areas.

“We really want to know why these patients didn’t produce antibodies … and we’re also interested in other groups of immunocompromised patients.”.

“I don’t want patients like this throwing caution to the wind and not masking and not social distancing,” Haidar said.

The results suggests that people should continue following public health restrictions, remaining vigilant, even after becoming fully vaccinated – especially if they are immune-compromised or are around someone who is, the physicians said.

Minnier said UPMC has administered more than 364,000 doses systemwide, including nearly 233,000 people who were not affiliated with UPMC.

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