The benefit of Vaccination against severe COVID 19 for patients who are on dialysis

In an analysis of patients with kidney failure receiving dialysis who had become infected with SARS- CoV-2, those who were vaccinated had a lower risk of experiencing severe COVID-19. The findings, which are published in CJASN, reiterate the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination in this patient population.

Various studies have shown that individuals on hemodialysis have impaired immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines, but few studies have described the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination in such patients.

To investigate, Debasish Banerjee, MD, FRCP (St. George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London) and his colleagues conducted a multi-center observational study of patients who were receiving hemodialysis in London and who were being regularly tested for COVID-19 during the period of vaccine roll-out with Pfizer-BioNtech's BNT162b2 and AstraZeneca's AZD1222.

SARS-CoV-2 infection was identified in 1,323 patients of different ethnicities (Asian/other 30%, Black 38%, and White 32%) including 1,047 (79%) unvaccinated, 86 (7%) post–first-dose, and 190 (14%) post–second-dose vaccination.