Safety and Immunogenicity of the AntiCOVID19 Vaccines in a Cohort of Lung Transplant Recipients

ABSTRACT

Lung transplant recipients (LuTxR) are at greater risk of COVID-19 and have attenuated response to vaccinations. In Italy, immunocompromised patients received the indication to be administered mRNA vaccines only. We aimed to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of these vaccines in our cohort of LuTxR;we are now presenting the preliminary data of their serologic responses. We conducted a single-center observational prospective study including all consecutive LuTxR who were administered two doses of mRNA antiCOVID19 vaccine at our institution in March 2021;NCT05116748. We investigated the incidence of systemic and local adverse events and, in order evaluate immunogenicity, we used ImmunoAssay in ECLIA for the quantitative detection of anti-protein S1 (spike) antibodies (including IgG) on venous blood samples at 60 and 80 (+/- 10) days from the vaccine administration. 116 patients were enrolled, 52 females. Table 1 summarizes the basic characteristics of our population. Figure 1 focalizes on different serologic responses based on immunosuppressive regimens. No serious adverse events were reported. The most common solicited adverse events were fever (52% of our patients), headache, fatigue, myalgia, chills, and injection-site pain. Our initial findings are reassuring. Humoral SARS-CoV-2 specific immunity in our cohort of patients tended to be stronger than expected. mRNA vaccines appeared to be safe in the transplant population, and have not raised serious concern about the possible onset of graft dysfunction or other serious adverse events in the first period after their administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Heart & Lung Transplantation is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)