mRNA Vaccines Found Inadequate for Cancer Patients

Researchers at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Jacksonville, Florida, have found that patients with cancer who receive chemotherapy may mount an inadequate immune response to COVID-19 vaccination. On December 12, 2021, this study's findings were published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovation, Quality & Outcomes.

A substantial proportion of cancer patients with hematologic and solid malignancies on chemotherapies and CDK4/6i had poor humoral responses after mRNA vaccination.

"It is important for patients with cancer who are receiving chemotherapy to receive a COVID-19 vaccine," says Saranya Chumsri, M.D., a Mayo Clinic hematologist and oncologist, and author of the paper.

Dr. Chumsri said in a press release issued on January 20, 2022, "this advice also applies to patients with cancer who are taking a CDK 4/6 inhibitors."

"These inhibitors are a newer class of medicines used to treat hormone-receptor-positive and HER2-negative breast cancers."

Dr. Chumsri anticipates having additional data later in 2022 regarding broader immune responses to COVID-19 vaccinations, including cellular and antibody responses in patients receiving chemotherapy and targeted therapies with booster vaccinations.