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

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. Crown Copyright (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Immunocompromised patients, especially those who have undergone allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, show inferior antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Older age and concurrent use of immunosuppressive medications significantly impact the antibody response to vaccination. Further research is needed to develop more effective vaccine formulations for these high-risk patients.