COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters Aid Outcomes in Patients With Cancer

TUESDAY, July 29, 2025 (HealthDay News) — COVID-19 vaccination boosters protect people with cancer developing from severe COVID-19, according to a study published online July 17 in JAMA Oncology.

Jacek Skarbinski, M.D., from Oakland Medical Center in California, and colleagues assessed COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) and the number needed-to-vaccinate (NNV) among people with cancer. The analysis included 72,831 patients with cancer.

The researchers found that during 34,006 person-years of follow-up, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate was 30.5 per 1,000 person-years among patients who received a monovalent booster versus 41.9 per 1,000 person-years among patients who received the primary series alone (adjusted VE of 29.2 percent and NNV to prevent one COVID-19 hospitalization of 166). Significant benefits were also seen to prevent diagnosed COVID-19 (VE, 8.5 percent) and COVID-19-related intensive care unit (ICU) admission (VE, 35.6 percent). Among 88,417 cancer patients, during 81,027 person-years of follow-up in the bivalent period, patients who received this booster (38 percent) had a COVID-19 hospitalization rate of 13.4 per 1,000 person-years versus 21.7 per 1,000 person-years among those who did not receive a bivalent vaccine (adjusted VE of 29.9 percent and NNV to prevent one COVID-19 hospitalization of 451). To prevent COVID-19-related ICU admission, the adjusted VE was 30.1 percent.

“The reduction in hospitalizations was significant, and the number of patients we needed to treat to see a benefit to the boosters is quite low,” senior author Jane Figueiredo, Ph.D., from Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, said in a statement. “This shows a great benefit to our cancer patients and should encourage patients to discuss vaccination with their health care providers.”

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text