Patients with primary immunodeficiencies are able to respond to COVID-19 vaccine

Published: June 1, 2021

Anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines show significant efficacy in protecting against severe COVID-19 and can potentially limit viral spread. However, their ability to induce a significant immune response in patients with inborn errors of immunity (IEI) is still being evaluated.

In a recent study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), Hagin et al evaluated the ability of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to induced specific immune response in a cohort of patients with IEIs. A majority of the patients had a background of primary antibody deficiency, either due to CVID or XLA. The authors studied their ability to develop vaccine-specific neutralizing antibodies and specific T-cell response, two weeks following the second vaccine dose.

Despite their underlying immune deficiency, the study found that most patients were able to develop vaccine-specific humoral response, cellular response or both. 18/22 patients (excluding XLA patients) produced anti-vaccine specific antibodies, and 19/26 developed specific cellular response. In fact, only 1 patient failed to develop both humoral and cellular response. Interestingly, patients with no B-cells (XLA) showed an enhanced anti-vaccine cellular response, and older CVID patients showed a trend toward lower antibody titers. No significant side effects were reported.

Although long-term data are still missing, the authors conclude that most IEI patients are able to respond to the vaccine and should therefore be encouraged to get vaccinated.

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) is an official scientific journal of the AAAAI, and is the most-cited journal in the field of allergy and clinical immunology.

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