COVID-19 Vaccination in Patients with Hematological Malignances

Abstract

Patients with hematologic malignancies (HM) represent a population particularly vulnerable to infections due to their cancer-related immune deficiency and the immunosuppressive treatment they are administered. Accordingly, a high hospitalization and mortality rate has been consistently reported in such a frail population during the first COVID-19 pandemic waves. After a brief description of the clinical impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with blood cancers, this narrative review is focused on the protective effect of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with HM. All in all, the results from the literature analysis indicate that booster shots in fully vaccinated HM patients are significantly able to increase seroconversion rates, which represent the best surrogate of vaccine efficacy. Despite these encouraging data, concerns still remain regarding the lower immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines, even to booster doses, in severely immunosuppressed HM patients, such as those receiving anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapies and hematopoietic stem cell transplants.