COVID-19 Infection despite Previous Vaccination in Cancer Patients and Healthcare Workers: Results from a French Prospective Multicenter Cohort (PAPESCO-19)

Cancers (Basel). 2023 Sep 28;15(19):4777. doi: 10.3390/cancers15194777.

Abstract

In a multicenter prospective cohort of cancer patients (CP; n = 840) and healthcare workers (HCWs; n = 935) vaccinated against COVID-19, we noticed the following: i/after vaccination, 4.4% of HCWs and 5.8% of CP were infected; ii/no characteristic was associated with post-vaccine COVID-19 infections among HCWs; iii/CP who developed infections were younger, more frequently women (NS), more frequently had gastrointestinal, gynecological, or breast cancer and a localized cancer stage; iv/CP vaccinated while receiving chemotherapy or targeted therapy had (NS) more breakthrough infections after vaccination than those vaccinated after these treatments; the opposite was noted with radiotherapy, immunotherapy, or hormonotherapy; v/most COVID-19 infections occurred either during the Alpha wave (11/41 HCW, 20/49 CP), early after the first vaccination campaign started, or during the Omicron wave (21/41 HCW, 20/49 CP), more than 3 months after the second dose; vi/risk of infection was not associated with values of antibody titers; vii/the outcome of these COVID-19 infections after vaccination was not severe in all cases. To conclude, around 5% of our CPs or HCWs developed a COVID-19 infection despite previous vaccination. The outcome of these infections was not severe.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; France; breakthrough infections; cancer patients; healthcare workers.

Grants and funding

The Nantes metro area partially financed the study. However, the PAPESCO study is an independent study, and the ideas and opinions expressed in this work are those of the authors.