Covid vax boosts immunity even in blood cancer patients: Study.

ISLAMABAD -- Despite being severely low on immunity levels, blood cancer patients generate strong responses against SARS-CoV-2 after vaccination, on par with that of healthy individuals, according to research.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne undertook the most comprehensive analysis of adaptive SARS-CoV-2 immunity to date in haematology patients of varying diseases and treatments across three doses of Covid-19 vaccination in comparison to healthy individuals.

The findings published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine shows that blood cancer patients highly benefit from receiving three doses of vaccination.

The vaccines boost their levels of T cells, the white blood cells that kill viral infected cells, irrespective of the patient's

B-cell numbers and antibody response, Medical Daily reported.

"It is important to really understand vaccine efficacy in this immuno-suppressed high-risk group of patients to help prevent severe SARS-CoV-2 infection," said Dr Oanh Nguyen, Senior Research Fellow at the varsity's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute).

"This group is at high risk of viral infectious diseases, such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, and yet they are not always included in pre-clinical trials that test vaccine efficacy," Nguyen said.

The team also looked at the characteristics of these T cells that are generated after vaccination, and "found that these...