• Additional COVID vaccine helps protect t

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 22:30:46
    Additional COVID vaccine helps protect transplant patients

    Date:
    April 13, 2022
    Source:
    Vanderbilt University Medical Center
    Summary:
    Additional booster doses of vaccine against COVID-19 are
    particularly important for those who are immunosuppressed, namely
    those who have had solid organ transplants, a new study shows.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Additional booster doses of vaccine against COVID-19 are particularly
    important for those who are immunosuppressed, namely those who have had
    solid organ transplants, a new study shows.


    ==========================================================================
    The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, shows that
    even after vaccination, patients taking immunosuppressive medications
    to prevent rejection of an organ transplant have higher risk for severe COVID-19 than those with competent immune systems.

    But vaccination with three doses of an mRNA vaccine -- the first two
    COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. are messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines - - led to substantially greater protection than two doses,
    the study shows.

    "The immune response to vaccination is often blunted in people with
    moderate to severe immunosuppression," said Wesley Self, MD, MPH,
    principal investigator of the study and associate professor of Emergency Medicine and Vice President for Clinical Research Networks and Strategy
    at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "Hence, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a concern that immunocompromised people, such
    as those with a solid organ transplant, may not benefit from vaccination
    as much as immunocompetent people," he said.

    Although the data in the study confirms that after vaccination patients
    taking immunosuppressive medications to prevent rejection of an organ transplant have higher risk for severe COVID- 19 than those with competent immune systems, there's also good news.

    "Additional vaccine doses appear to substantially increase the
    effectiveness of vaccination for transplant patients," Self said.

    For example, among transplant patients, a regimen of two doses of mRNA
    COVID-19 vaccine was only 29% effective at preventing hospitalization
    due to COVID-19, while a regimen of three doses was 77% effective.

    "The results of this real world, multicenter collaborative study indicate
    that solid organ transplant recipients benefit from three doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, and support CDC recommended vaccine policies for a
    three-dose primary series in this vulnerable population," said Jennie
    Kwon, DO, MSCI, the first author of the study and assistant professor of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis and associate healthcare epidemiologist at Barnes- Jewish Hospital.

    "We believe these results demonstrate that solid organ transplant
    recipients remain at risk for COVID-19 despite vaccination and
    support the need for continued efforts to mitigate the risk of COVID
    in this population. It illustrates that booster vaccine doses are
    particularly important for immunosuppressed people," Self said, adding
    that fourth doses of the mRNA vaccines are now recommended for people
    with moderate-to-severe immunocompromising conditions, including solid
    organ transplant.

    The study looked at 10,425 hospitalized patients across 21
    hospitals -- 440 who had had solid organ transplants, 1,684 with
    other immunocompromising conditions and 8,301 whose immune systems
    were competent. Future analysis will be important to understand the effectiveness of fourth doses, the residual risk of severe COVID-19
    among solid organ transplant recipients after four vaccine doses and
    the durability of protection. In addition, other measures to reduce
    the risk of COVID-19 among solid organ transplant recipients should be considered, including vaccination of close contacts, individual immune monitoring and infection prevention strategies such as face masking in
    public spaces and physical distancing.

    The study is part of the IVY (The Influenza and Other Viruses in the
    Acutely Ill) Research Network, originally created in 2019 to investigate
    the epidemiology of severe illnesses caused by viral respiratory
    infections and the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing these
    illnesses. The network, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, consists of
    21 large adult hospitals geographically dispersed across the U.S. Self
    is principal investigator for the network.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
    Vanderbilt_University_Medical_Center. Original written by Nancy
    Humphrey. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Jennie H Kwon, Mark W Tenforde, Manjusha Gaglani, H Keipp Talbot,
    Adit A
    Ginde, Tresa McNeal, Shekhar Ghamande, David J Douin, Jonathan
    D Casey, Nicholas M Mohr, Anne Zepeski, Nathan I Shapiro, Kevin W
    Gibbs, D Clark Files, David N Hager, Arber Shehu, Matthew E Prekker,
    Sean D Caspers, Matthew C Exline, Mena Botros, Michelle N Gong,
    Alex Li, Amira Mohamed, Nicholas J Johnson, Vasisht Srinivasan,
    Jay S Steingrub, Ithan D Peltan, Samuel M Brown, Emily T Martin,
    Akram Khan, Catherine L Hough, Laurence W Busse, Abhijit Duggal,
    Jennifer G Wilson, Cynthia Perez, Steven Y Chang, Christopher
    Mallow, Randal Rovinski, Hilary M Babcock, Adam S Lauring, Laura
    Felley, Natasha Halasa, James D Chappell, Carlos G Grijalva,
    Todd W Rice, Kelsey N Womack, Christopher J Lindsell, Kimberly
    W Hart, Adrienne Baughman, Samantha M Olson, Stephanie Schrag,
    Miwako Kobayashi, Jennifer R Verani, Manish M Patel, Wesley H
    Self. mRNA Vaccine Effectiveness Against COVID-19 Hospitalization
    Among Solid Organ Transplant Recipients.

    The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2022; DOI:
    10.1093/infdis/jiac118 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220413151118.htm

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