SARS-CoV-2 Hospitalizations Drop in Post-Vaccination Transplant Recipients, Study Shows
A recent study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Transplant Research Center (TRC) and the New York University Center for Surgical and Applied Transplant Research has found a significant drop in hospitalizations due to SARS-CoV-2 infections in post-vaccination solid organ transplant recipients. The study, which followed nearly 2,400 transplant recipients over a period of two years, revealed that while breakthrough COVID-19 cases remain common, the severity of the infections and the need for hospitalization have decreased dramatically, particularly during the omicron subvariant wave.
These findings provide further evidence of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in high-risk individuals, demonstrating that it can make breakthrough infections less severe and reduce the risk of long-term complications. The results align with reports from medical institutions across the United States, indicating that vaccination offers significant benefits beyond mitigating infection rates.
Dr. William Werbel, the senior study author and assistant professor of medicine and associate director of the TRC’s epidemiology and quantitative sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, emphasized the importance of this study in understanding the impact of vaccination on transplant recipients and other immunocompromised individuals. He described the study as a bit of a capstone to their nationwide COVID-19 observational research project, which has produced over 60 published studies since 2021.
The study analyzed data collected over the course of two years, tracking COVID-19 diagnoses following vaccination and assessing the severity of the disease that required hospitalization. Around 19.7% of the study participants (464 out of 2,356) reported SARS-CoV-2 infections, with 7.5% of those individuals needing hospitalization. The infection rates mirrored the trends seen in the general U.S. population, with peak numbers during the omicron BA.1 subvariant wave in the winter of 2021. However, hospitalization rates dropped by 75% during subsequent subvariant waves (BA.2 through BQ.1) compared to earlier waves (pre-delta, delta, and BA.1).
While the decrease in hospitalizations can be attributed to various factors such as vaccination, population immunity, improved disease management, increased testing, and potential changes in the virus itself, certain groups, particularly lung transplant patients, remained at higher risk for hospitalization during more recent subvariant eras.
Dr. Werbel believes that these findings can inform discussions about the benefits of vaccination and help vulnerable populations, including transplant patients, understand the risks and appropriate risk behaviors in relation to COVID-19.
Looking ahead, the TRC plans to expand the study’s methodology to investigate how transplant recipients respond to vaccines against other infectious threats like respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, and mpox (formerly known as monkeypox). They also aim to optimize SARS-CoV-2 vaccine effectiveness in transplant recipients through the National Institutes of Health-funded COVID-19 Protection After Transplant (CPAT) trials. For example, they will explore selectively reducing immunosuppressive therapy to assess its impact on the recipients’ immune response.
The study was funded by the Ben-Dov family and the Trokhan Patterson family, as well as grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.
Overall, this study highlights the importance of vaccination in reducing the severity of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in transplant recipients. It provides valuable insights for healthcare professionals and patients, emphasizing the benefits of vaccination in high-risk populations and paving the way for further research on vaccine effectiveness in transplant recipients for other infectious diseases.
