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COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters Aid Outcomes in Patients With Cancer

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on July 30, 2025.

via HealthDay

TUESDAY, July 29, 2025 -- COVID-19 vaccination boosters protect people with cancer developing from severe COVID-19, according to a study published online July 17 in JAMA Oncology.

Jacek Skarbinski, M.D., from Oakland Medical Center in California, and colleagues assessed COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) and the number needed-to-vaccinate (NNV) among people with cancer. The analysis included 72,831 patients with cancer.

The researchers found that during 34,006 person-years of follow-up, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate was 30.5 per 1,000 person-years among patients who received a monovalent booster versus 41.9 per 1,000 person-years among patients who received the primary series alone (adjusted VE of 29.2 percent and NNV to prevent one COVID-19 hospitalization of 166). Significant benefits were also seen to prevent diagnosed COVID-19 (VE, 8.5 percent) and COVID-19-related intensive care unit (ICU) admission (VE, 35.6 percent). Among 88,417 cancer patients, during 81,027 person-years of follow-up in the bivalent period, patients who received this booster (38 percent) had a COVID-19 hospitalization rate of 13.4 per 1,000 person-years versus 21.7 per 1,000 person-years among those who did not receive a bivalent vaccine (adjusted VE of 29.9 percent and NNV to prevent one COVID-19 hospitalization of 451). To prevent COVID-19-related ICU admission, the adjusted VE was 30.1 percent.

"The reduction in hospitalizations was significant, and the number of patients we needed to treat to see a benefit to the boosters is quite low," senior author Jane Figueiredo, Ph.D., from Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, said in a statement. "This shows a great benefit to our cancer patients and should encourage patients to discuss vaccination with their health care providers."

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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