Skip to main content

Immunocompromised Individuals and the COVID-19 Vaccine

How the COVID-19 Vaccine Affects Organ Transplant Recipients 

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 143.7 million individuals, or 43.3% of the total U.S. population, received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of April 29, 2021. About 99.7 million people, or 30% of the total U.S. population, have been fully vaccinated. As a result of the tremendous vaccination efforts, the 7-day average of daily COVID-19 cases have decreased by 79.0% compared to January 2021. With cases going down and an increasing number of people receiving protection from the vaccine, things are starting to look up. However, not everyone who receives the vaccine is guaranteed a form of protection against the coronavirus. One community in particular is especially susceptible to severe COVID-19 infection and has been excluded from the majority of COVID-19 vaccine studies: the immunocompromised. 

About the Immunocompromised

    Millions of Americans are immunocompromised, meaning their bodies are unable to deploy immune fighters against an infection. Immunocompromised individuals commonly include survivors of blood cancers, organ transplant recipients, and/or those who take drugs that kill or block B cells, which produce the antibodies needed to fight an infection. Many recipients of these drugs produce little to no antibodies in response to a vaccine or an infection, leaving them susceptible to illness. When they do become infected, they may suffer from prolonged illness and higher death rates. With a decreased ability of producing antibodies against an infection, many have been wondering whether or not and how immunocompromised individuals will react to the COVID-19 vaccine. A study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association investigated the effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna vaccine on 436 transplant recipients. Each study participant received one dose of the vaccine and their antibody levels were measured about 3 weeks later.

About the Study    

    The study was conducted at Johns Hopkins University and included a total of 436 organ transplant recipients from across the United States. The median age of the participants was 56 years and median time since transplant was 6.2 years. The study group underwent a variety of organ transplants including kidney, liver, heart, and lung. Since the transplant, all participants have been taking immunosuppressive drugs, which inhibit the activity of the immune system. All participants underwent SAR-COV-2 mRNA vaccination between Dec 16 2020 and Feb 5 2021. Out of the 436 individuals, 52% received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 48% received the Moderna vaccine. Between 17-24 days after the first vaccine dose, participant blood samples were collected and sent to Johns Hopkins University for antibody detection against the COVID-19 spike protein.

Study Results

    Researchers discovered that only 17% of the 436 transplant recipients had detectable antibody levels three weeks after vaccination. Before diving deeper into the results here’s a little bit of background information: transplant recipients typically undergo maintenance immunosuppression therapy, which serves as long-term treatment to prevent rejection or deterioration of the transplant organ. One specific type of this therapy is antimetabolite therapy. When analyzing the results from this study, researchers found that transplant recipients receiving anti–metabolite maintenance immunosuppression therapy were less likely to develop an antibody response in comparison to those not receiving the therapy. Younger transplant recipients were also more likely to develop an antibody response. In addition, participants who received the Pfizer vaccine were less likely to develop an antibody response than those receiving the Moderna vaccine.

Implications

    What makes this study unique is its focus on transplant recipients. The study's findings suggest that organ transplant recipients still remain at a higher risk for COVID-19 even after the first dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. However, experts still recommend that immunocompromised individuals get vaccinated because despite the low odds, they may still produce protective immune cells and possibly even antibodies. Additionally, this study was only limited to a time frame of 3 weeks after the first vaccine dose; it's possible that antibody levels may increase with time and after participants receive a second dose.
    Since immunocompromised individuals are unable to produce a sufficient amount of antibodies against the coronavirus due to their compromised immune system, researchers have suggested injecting these individuals with antibodies instead. This can be done through convalescent plasma, which utilizes antibodies obtained from recovered COVID-19 patients. However, this method for the immunocompromised is still in development. If anything, this study further highlights the importance of mask wearing and social distancing, even after vaccination, to protect groups such as the immunocompromised, who are still at a high risk of COVID-19 infection.

Sources

1. Boyarsky, Brian, et al. “Immunogenicity of a Single Dose of SARS-CoV-2 Messenger RNA Vaccine in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients.” The Journal of the American Medical Association, Translated by E Ry, 15 Mar. 2021, doi:doi:10.1001/jama.2021.4385.

2. Mandavilli, Apoorva. “Vaccines Won't Protect Millions of Patients With Weakened Immune Systems.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Apr. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/health/coronavirus-vaccine-immune-system.html.



Comments

  1. vivitideOctober 1, 2021 at 3:48 AM

    You have shared a lot of information in this article about buy high quality peptides in Europe. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to this useful article. Keep posting.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Efficacy of Masks

Do Wearing Masks Really Prevent Coronavirus            For weeks, U.S. health authorities discouraged healthy Americans from wearing masks, believing they would do more harm than good. However, other countries such as China and South Korea have required all citizens to wear a mask when entering a public setting to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But really how effective are these masks against the coronavirus? On April 3rd, Nature Medicine published an article describing their findings based off an experiment testing the efficacy of surgical face masks against coronavirus, influenza virus and rhinovirus.   Study Findings      Their results demonstrated that surgical masks were largely effective in reducing coronavirus transmission through respiratory droplets as well as aerosol particles. Three out of ten people who did not wear a mask were infected with the coronavirus through droplet particles. Out of eleven people w...
1 comment
Read more

Breakthrough Infections

 COVID-19 Breakthrough Infections     As of August 2021, a little over 50% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. However, despite the increasing number of vaccinated individuals and high efficacy of the vaccines, rare breakthrough cases have occurred. With the reports of breakthrough cases, or instances when people who are fully vaccinated get infected with COVID-19, many questions have arisen. How common are breakthrough infections? What are the symptoms? How severe are the cases? These questions are addressed in a peer-reviewed study investigating breakthrough cases among healthcare workers in Israel. The study was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 28, 2021.  About the Study     The study setting took place in the Sheba Medical Center, which is the largest medical center in Israel staffed with 12,586 healthcare workers. By April 28, 2021, 11,453 workers (91%) had been fully vaccinated with the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plasma for COVID-19 treatment

FDA Authorizes Plasma for COVID-19 Treatment                     COVID-19, which has been spreading across the globe since March, has affected the lives of Americans for over six months. Many people, including the President, are eager to eliminate the virus after a dreadful 6 months of rising cases and quarantine. To their dismay, hopes of eliminating the virus by Easter and then by August, seemed to turn into an unreachable dream for Americans. With cases rising and no sure vaccine or treatment for the virus, a future without COVID-19 seemed further and further away. Yet, this Sunday on August 23, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first treatment for COVID-19: convalescent plasma. While the plasma has only been authorized for emergency use, many people see this authorization as progress towards eliminating the virus. However, others believe that the plasma is not as effective, and that the FDA was pres...
Post a Comment
Read more