Nearly 50% of blood cancer patients insufficiently protected against Omicron after three jabs, study says
Nearly half of patients with blood cancer are insufficiently protected against the Omicron variant after three vaccine doses, according to a new study.
Experts from the Francis Crick Institute and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust said their research highlights the need for a fourth jab among these vulnerable people.
As part of the ongoing Capture study, scientists have been monitoring the antibody response of hundreds of patients with different types of cancer, after one, two and three vaccine doses.
Specifically, the researchers measured levels of neutralising antibodies which identify, attack and block the Omicron variant from infecting the body’s cells.
Patients with solid tumours appeared to generate antibody responses similar to people without cancer. But among patients with blood cancer who had three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, only 56 per cent generated neutralising antibodies, according to the study, which has been published as a research letter in The Lancet.
This means that 44% of patients with blood cancer did not generate a sufficient antibody response.
The study supports the need for four jabs among these immunocompromised groups of people.
“We found that a third vaccine dose boosted the neutralising response against Omicron in patients with cancer, but the effect was blunted in patients with blood cancer compared to those with solid cancer,” the authors wrote.
Source: The Independent, 25 January 2022