Short-term safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in patients with cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Implications of mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccination for cancer patients

“… 47–49 From a clinical evaluation, BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine appears to have a good short-term safety profile in patients with cancer treated with ICIs. 50 While these systematic studies will provide important new insights relevant to cancer immunology and related fields, at this point they do not have any practical relevance; there are a number of practical aspects that will (and should) primarily drive decision-making as it relates to SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations for patients with cancer. In other words, while it will be interesting to learn about vaccine-induce immune response in specific ‘cancer scenarios’, since the overarching goal is to vaccinate the entire population as soon as possible, there is also a general consensus that patients with cancer as a group should be prioritized, that is, vaccinated as soon as possible, the establishment of further subcategories or priority groups of patients with cancer also seems impractical.…”

Cancer and COVID-19 vaccines: a complex global picture

“…4 Encouragingly, emerging data from countries that are more advanced in their vaccine rollout have found no additional safety issues so far for patients with cancer. 5 For those patients with cancer receiving a vaccine, a shorter duration between both doses (ie, 21 days between initial vaccinaton and booster) is required to ensure an adequate immune response. 6 However, the dataset informing this advice is for specific vaccines in highly selected, high-income settings.…”

Emerging issues related to COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer

“…However, the safety data available so far are reassuring, with no evidence of increased immune-related adverse events. In a study from Israel, 134 patients with cancer with ongoing ICI therapy were administered two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine [ 28 ]. The commonest local side effects were injection site pain (63%) and local swelling (9%), whereas the most frequent systemic side effects were muscle pain (34%), fatigue (34%), headache (16%), and fever, chills, and gastrointestinal complications (10% each).…”