In this post, I consider the question: If You Are Immunocompromised But Are Fully Vaccinated AgainstCOVID-19, Do You Need A Booster Shot?
The place to start learning about this topic is COVID-19 Vaccines and Immunocompromised People: Fully Vaccinated and Not Protected [Link is to the podcast interview and transcript with transplant surgeon, Dorry Segev, MD, PhD].
After being fully vaccinated, only 50% of people who are immunocompromised show an antibody response to COVID-19. INTERVIEW BY STEPHANIE DESMON | JULY 14, 2021
I have embedded Dr. Segev’s podcast interview below.
Next I review The New York Times‘ article of August 5, 2021, Apoorva Mandavilli and , F.D.A. Aiming to Speed Extra Vaccine Doses for Immunocompromised Patients.
I strongly recommend that all potentially immunocompromised patients and all physicians review the above article. My excerpts are not enough [They are just for my study notes]. I strongly recommend subscribing to The New York Times [Not an affiliate link].
Here are excerpts from the above article:
The Food and Drug Administration is speeding efforts to authorize extra doses of the coronavirus vaccines for Americans with weakened immune systems, a change that reflects a growing concern within the Biden administration about these vulnerable patients as the contagious Delta variant surges nationwide.
“The data are unequivocal that they have not gotten a good response to begin with” and need additional doses, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, lead medical adviser to the White House on the pandemic, said in an interview on Friday.
Compared with other Americans, “there is much, much more of a compelling reason to do that sooner rather than later,” he said.
The benefit of vaccinating these patients may extend well beyond this group. Persistent infection with the coronavirus in immunocompromised people may lead to more transmissible or virulent variants, according to recent research. Protecting these patients may help prevent variants from emerging.
Dr. Fauci earlier in the week distinguished between booster shots for people who are fully vaccinated but may be seeing waning immunity — for which the scientific rationale is not yet clear — and additional shots for people with impaired immune systems. Research indicates that at least some of the latter group need extra doses.
In the United States, at least 3 percent of the population is immunocompromised because of medical reasons like some cancers, organ transplants, chronic liver disease, kidney failure and dialysis, or because of widely prescribed medications like Rituxan, steroids and methotrexate.
Older adults and people with some conditions that suppress the immune system are routinely given extra doses of the vaccines for influenza and hepatitis B. That experience provides a sound justification for offering additional doses to some older adults and people whose immune responses are muted, said Dr. Balazs Halmos, an oncologist at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
Additional doses may help some people with weak immune systems, but others may show little improvement, and still others may not need extra doses at all. In a study of organ transplant recipients, only a third of the patients who received a third dose showed a benefit.
There are safety concerns with enhancing immunity in patients whose responses are suppressed for a reason. One patient in the transplant study experienced mild rejection of her transplanted heart after receiving a third dose, and recovered, said Dr. Segev, who led the research. Patients who have autoimmune conditions may experience flares when their immunity is enhanced.
There is also not much long-term data on people who have received additional doses, he noted: “I don’t think there is strong evidence that a third dose is safe yet — there is encouraging evidence.”
In the meantime, he suggests that the safest way for people with weak immune systems to get an extra vaccine dose is to enroll in research studies where they can be closely monitored.*
*Here are some resources from a Google search on “How do I enroll in a research study for immunocompromised patients who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19?”
Coming soon.
*Here are some resources from a Google search on “Are patients with type 2 diabetes considered immunocompromised with respect to COVID-19 vaccination?”
Coming soon.
*Here are some resources from a Google search on “Are patients with type 2 diabetes considered immunocompromised with respect to COVID-19 vaccination?”
Coming soon.
*Here are some resources from a Google search on “How do I enroll in a research study for immunocompromised patients who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19?”
Coming soon.
*Here are some resources from a Google search on “CDC info on covid in the immunocompromised“.
Coming soon.
