A Third Dose COVID-19 Vaccination in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Patients

Abstract

We previously reported that a second dose of BNT162b2 was safe and effective for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) patients. Here, we investigated the safety and efficacy of a third dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in allogeneic HSCT patients. Antibody titers against the S1 spike protein were measured using the QuaResearch COVID-19 Human IgM IgG ELISA kit. The previous study included 25 allogeneic HSCT patients who received two doses of BNT162b2. Following the exclusion of three patients because of the development of COVID-19 (n = 2) and loss to follow-up (n = 1), the study evaluated 22 allogeneic HSCT patients who received a third dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2 [n = 15] and mRNA-1273 [n = 7]). Median age at the time of the first vaccination was 56 (range, 23–71) years. Five patients were receiving immunosuppressants at the third vaccination, namely calcineurin inhibitors (CI) alone (n = 1), steroids alone (n = 2), or CI combined with steroids (n = 2). Twenty-one patients (95%) seroconverted after the third dose. None of our patients had serious adverse events, new-onset graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), or GVHD exacerbation after vaccination. A third dose of the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines was safe and effective for allogeneic HSCT patients.