Brief Article
Serologic Responses following a Single Dose of SARS-Cov-2 Vaccination in Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtct.2021.07.011Get rights and content
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ABSTRACT

Immunocompromised individuals were not included in formal trials of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines. Subsequent studies in patients with hematologic malignancies and solid organ transplantation recipients suggest inferior responses to vaccination. We determined antibody responses to a single dose of vaccines in one of the most vulnerable patient groups, allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) recipients. Pfizer-BioNTech (PB) or AstraZeneca (AZ) SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were administered at least 3 months post-transplantation to 55 adult allo-HCT recipients. We found that older age and concurrent use of immunosuppressive medications were significantly associated with lack of antibody response to vaccination. Only 21% of patients on systemic immunosuppression mounted a response, compared with 58% of patients not on immunosuppression (P = .006). We also show that responses to the AZ vaccine may be superior to responses to the PB vaccine in this cohort. These findings highlight the need for novel immunogenic vaccine formulations and schedules in these highest-risk patients, as well as continued public healthy safety measures to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

Key Words

COVID vaccination
Allogeneic stem cell transplantation
SARS-CoV-2 antibody response

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Financial disclosure: See Acknowledgments on page 880.e3.