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. 2022 May 21;15(1):67.
doi: 10.1186/s13045-022-01290-8.

Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infection in Vaccinated Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Anthony Rooney  1 , Cory Bivona  2 , Ben Liu  3 , David Streeter  4 , Han Gong  4 , Qamar Khan  4
Affiliations

Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infection in Vaccinated Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Anthony Rooney et al. J Hematol Oncol. .

Abstract

Although messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have established efficacy for prevention of severe SARS-CoV2 infection in the general population, their effectiveness in patients with malignancy, especially those on anti-neoplastic therapies, remains an area of open research. In order to better understand the risk of developing breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection and the outcomes associated with breakthrough infection for cancer patients, individual patient data from a curated outcomes database at the University of Kansas were retrospectively reviewed to determine the rate of breakthrough infection during an 8-month period encompassing the height of the delta variant surge. Although the rate of breakthrough infection in cancer patients after two doses of an mRNA vaccine remained low at 1.1%, hospitalization and death rates were 27 and 5%, respectively. Patients with hematologic malignancies, especially multiple myeloma, and those on anti-neoplastic therapy at the time of vaccination were found to be at higher risk for developing breakthrough infection.

Keywords: COVID; Hematologic malignancy; Oncology; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Supplementary concepts