COVID-19 Vaccine Safety in Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer: New Study Results

Strategic Insights -

Researchers from Japan have conducted a prospective, observational study to evaluate the safety of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in patients with advanced lung cancer receiving anticancer therapy. The study, published in Thoracic Cancer, aimed to assess the occurrence of early adverse events within 7 days of vaccine injection in patients undergoing lung cancer treatment. The results suggest that anti-SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination tends to be safe, but fever following vaccination is more common among patients undergoing lung cancer treatment than among healthy individuals.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study enrolled 120 patients with advanced lung cancer who received SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine; 73 were men, and the mean age was 73.5 years.
  • The treatments received for lung cancer at the time of the first vaccine injection were chemotherapy, ICIs, combined chemotherapy and ICIs, and targeted therapies, including tyrosine kinase inhibitors, in 30, 28, 17, and 45 patients, respectively.
  • All patients received the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine, and after the second dose, 15.4% of patients had fever of 38 degrees C (95% confidence interval: 9.34%-23.2%).
  • Patients treated with cytotoxic anticancer drugs tended to have high fever, and male sex was associated with higher fever frequencies.
  • No serious early adverse events due to vaccination were reported.

Statistics:

  • 73 (61%) of the 120 patients enrolled in the study were men.
  • The mean age of the patients was 73.5 years.
  • Fever of 38 degrees C or higher was reported in 15.4% of patients after the second vaccine dose.
  • The association between male sex and higher fever frequencies was found in the multivariate analyses.

Sources:

  • Short-term Safety of an Anti-severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Messenger Rna Vaccine for Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer Treated With Anticancer Drugs: a Multicenter, Prospective, Observational Study. Thoracic Cancer, 2021.
  • Vaccine Weekly, January 26, 2022.