Observational study on the safety and effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with lung cancer

Abstract

Background: We aimed to determine the safety and effectiveness of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines in terms of protection from infection and reduced coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity in lung cancer patients. We also analysed the toxicities related to antineoplastic treatments and the influence of infection before or after vaccination on overall survival (OS). Patients and methods: This cohort, multicentric, retrospective study was carried out between April 2021 and January 2022 in 27 Spanish hospitals. We included all patients >18 years old with lung cancer of any histology and stage who received a European Medicines Agency-approved (up to January 2022) SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. We collected patient followup data up to 3 months after vaccination. Results: Seven hundred and ninety-four patients were included in the analysis. Most patients were male (511, 64.4%) and the mean age was 66.0 years (standard deviation: 9.9 years). Five hundred and ninety-three (74.7%) patients received three vaccine doses. Two hundred and thirty-five (29.6%) patients reported vaccine-related adverse events. No grade 5 and only one grade 4 vaccine-related adverse event was observed. Two hundred and sixty-two (33.0%) patients had at least one adverse event related to cancer treatment; no grade 5 adverse events were reported and 21 grade 4 were observed. Fifty-eight (7.3%) patients were infected with SARS-CoV-2 after being vaccinated; 10 (17.2%) required hospitalisation and none of them needed intensive care nor died. No significant difference was observed between the OS of patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 before receiving the first vaccine dose and those not infected (P=0.441). Conclusions: Our real-world data supported the safety and effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with lung cancer. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines protected most of our population from infection, and those infected developed mild-tomoderate disease.