MILAN: COVID-19 vaccines prove weak in immunocompromised people, three studies from Italy discovered. The research analysts for the study emphasised the use of booster shots in people suffering from weak immune systems like the elderly, chronically ailed, etc.
The studies showcased that 30% of immunocompromised people didn’t develop a proper immunity against COVID-19 even after vaccination. The remaining 70% did develop immunisation, but it was in a lesser capacity compared to healthy people, said the Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome in a statement issued recently.
The studies were organised with a small pool of 21 basic immunocompromised patients, 34 children and teenagers on the way to cardiopulmonary surgeries and 45 liver and kidney transplant patients. A demand to increase the efficacy of vaccines with boosters for people with weaker immunity was the result, the hospital said.
“The studies exhibit that it is pivotal to protect the vulnerable by a third vaccine dosage, calculating dosages or resorting to tertiary vaccine formulations that could increase the immune response to the virus,” concluded Prof. Paolo Palma, head of clinical immunology at the Bambino Gesu.
Though experts in the field question the need for boosters, some countries are putting mandates out for a third shot in order to ensure protection from the highly transmissible variants of COVID-19 that have emerged.