A new study published in the ‘Annals of Oncology Journal’ on December 27, 2021 evaluated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of fully vaccinated COVID-19 patients with cancer who had breakthrough infections and found that they remained at high risk for hospitalization and death.
The study showed that fully vaccinated patients who experienced breakthrough infections had a hospitalization rate of 65%, an ICU or mechanical ventilation rate of 19%, and a 13% death rate.
“Patients with cancer who develop breakthrough COVID-19 even following full vaccination can still experience severe outcomes, including death,” said Toni Choueiri, MD, director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a senior author on the report.
Patients were considered fully vaccinated after having received two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine, NIAD vaccine, or one dose of the J&J vaccine, with the last vaccine dose long enough before breakthrough COVID-19, to consider them as fully vaccinated.
The data were collected between Nov. 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021.