The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 It "works" in people being treated for cancer, even if their bodies have a lower immune response than non-cancer patients, according to a new Israeli scientific study.
The researchers, led by Dr. Salomon Stemmer of Bellinson Hospital's Rabin Medical Center and published in the American Journal of Oncology, compared the vaccine response of 102 cancer patients aged 66 to 78 years.
Although antibody levels in cancer patients were approximately 70% lower than in the control group, they were nevertheless sufficient to provide protection against infection. Covid-19. That is why, as Stemmer said, cancer patients should be vaccinated as a matter of priority even in the midst of active anti-cancer treatment.
90% of patients receiving anticancer therapy developed adequate IgG antibodies two weeks after the second dose of this vaccine, compared with 100% of non-cancer patients who had been vaccinated. Antibody levels in cancer patients were found well above the lower limit that allows immune protection against the coronavirus.
Cancer patients do chemotherapy and immunotherapy that can reduce the response of their immune system. Therefore, according to Israeli scientists, their antibody levels should be monitored in the long run to ensure that they remain protected against Covid-19. They also said that they expect cancer patients to have a similar immune response to the similar modern mRNA vaccine of the American Moderna, although so far no relevant study has been done for this vaccine.
See link for scientific publication HERE
Source: RES-EAP