eNewMexican

Third shot may help transplant patients develop immunity

A vaccine booster shot could help beef up protection against COVID-19 for some organ transplant recipients, a group fearful their suppressed immune systems may leave them defenseless as pandemic restrictions end.

A third of organ recipients who had no antibodies after their second dose developed them after a third dose, according to a small study reported Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The researchers also found participants with just a small rise in their antibodies after their two-dose regimens had higher levels after they got an added shot.

The results are suggestive only, coming from a 30-person observational study by Johns Hopkins University researchers. But they were eagerly awaited in a transplant community seeking to return to normal activities as the pandemic wanes. About 160,000 transplants have occurred in the U.S. since 2017.

Earlier studies from the Johns Hopkins researchers showed transplant recipients, who must suppress their immune system with drugs so their bodies don’t reject donated organs, are less likely to develop antibodies after two doses of a messenger RNA vaccine, the type made by PfizerBioNTech and by Moderna.

Those findings spurred some patients to go to pharmacies and clinics on their own to get booster shots. The Johns Hopkins researchers then recorded the antibody levels in 30 of those patients to develop the latest data.

NATION & WORLD

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2021-06-16T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-16T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://enewmexican.pressreader.com/article/281608128385201

Santa Fe New Mexican