Clinical efficacy and long-term immunogenicity of an early triple dose regimen of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination in cancer patients

INTRODUCTION@#Three doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines have been recommended for cancer patients to reduce the risk of severe disease. Anti-neoplastic treatment, such as chemotherapy, may affect long-term vaccine immunogenicity.@*METHOD@#Patients with solid or haematological cancer were recruited from 2 hospitals between July 2021 and March 2022. Humoral response was evaluated using GenScript cPASS surrogate virus neutralisation assays. Clinical outcomes were obtained from medical records and national mandatory-reporting databases.@*RESULTS@#A total of 273 patients were recruited, with 40 having haematological malignancies and the rest solid tumours. Among the participants, 204 (74.7%) were receiving active cancer therapy, including 98 (35.9%) undergoing systemic chemotherapy and the rest targeted therapy or immunotherapy. All patients were seronegative at baseline. Seroconversion rates after receiving 1, 2 and 3 doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination were 35.2%, 79.4% and 92.4%, respectively. After 3 doses, patients on active treatment for haematological malignancies had lower antibodies (57.3%±46.2) when compared to patients on immunotherapy (94.1%±9.56, P<0.05) and chemotherapy (92.8%±18.1, P<0.05). SARS-CoV-2 infection was reported in 77 (28.2%) patients, of which 18 were severe. No patient receiving a third dose within 90 days of the second dose experienced severe infection.@*CONCLUSION@#This study demonstrates the benefit of early administration of the third dose among cancer patients.

Disaggregating Asian Race Reveals COVID-19 Disparities among Asian Americans at New York City's Public Hospital System

There is growing recognition of the burden of COVID-19 among Asian Americans, but data on outcomes among Asian ethnic subgroups remain extremely limited. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 85,328 patients tested for COVID-19 at New York Citys public hospital system between March 1 and May 31, 2020, to describe characteristics and COVID-19 outcomes of Asian ethnic subgroups compared to Asians overall and other racial/ethnic groups. South Asians had the highest rates of positivity and hospitalization among Asians, second only to Hispanics for positivity and Blacks for hospitalization. Chinese patients had the highest mortality rate of all groups and were nearly 1.5 times more likely to die than Whites. The high burden of COVID-19 among South Asian and Chinese Americans underscores the urgent needs for improved data collection and reporting as well as public health program and policy efforts to mitigate the disparate impact of COVID-19 among these communities.