There Is No Ban On Cancer Patients Being Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Illustration of a cancer patient (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Internal medicine specialist and consultant hematology-oncology from the University of Indonesia, dr. Jeffry Beta Tenggara, Sp.PD-KHOM said that until now there is no prohibition for cancer patients, including breast cancer, to receive COVID-19 vaccine injections.

"Actually, currently cancer patients are not prohibited from being vaccinated", said Jeffry, who is also a member of the Association of Indonesian Internal Medicine Specialists (PAPDI) in a virtual discussion, Saturday, as reported by Antara.

PAPDI previously gave its recommendations regarding the COVID-19 vaccine for cancer patients. According to PAPDI, those aged 18-59 years with solid cancer are basically eligible to get the vaccine, but it needs to be determined by an expert doctor. Patients over the age of 60 are also eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine if they meet general recommendations.

This is because the condition of each patient is different, so consultation with the treating doctor is recommended before deciding to receive the vaccine.

Regarding the effectiveness of the vaccine in cancer patients, a new study will be conducted in Indonesia in January. Jeffry said this research will focus on the effectiveness of the vaccine in patients with comorbidities, one of which is cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Previously, a study at the University of Arizona Health Sciences found that patients undergoing chemotherapy had a lower immune response to two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, but the third dose increased response.

The study, conducted by the chief of gastrointestinal medical oncology at the Arizona Cancer Center, Rachna Shroff, MD, MS, and her team, published in the journal Nature Medicine, involved observing 53 cancer patients undergoing treatment such as chemotherapy.

They also compared immune responses after the first and second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in 50 healthy adults.

The results of the study, as quoted from Medical Xpress, showed that most cancer patients had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 after two doses of the vaccine.

However, their immune response is lower than that of healthy adults. Some patients also had no response to the COVID-19 vaccine, indicating less protection against SARS-CoV-2, especially the delta variant.

After that, as many as 20 patients received a third injection and this increased the immune response in most of them. The overall immune response rate after the third injection was the same as for those who did not have chemotherapy after two doses.

This interdisciplinary research team was formed shortly after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved in late 2020. To get the clearest answer possible, they focused on patients with solid tumors, such as breast or gastrointestinal cancer, and excluded people undergoing immunotherapy.