COVID-19 vaccines using mRNA technology do not produce any extra short-term side effects in cancer patients, a new study suggests.
Researchers surveyed 1,753 recipients of two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, about two-thirds of whom had a history of cancer and about 12% of whom were receiving chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery for their disease.
More than 90% of the cancers involved solid tumors. The Pfizer vaccine has been shown to work well in such cases.
People with and without cancer reported similar rates of pain at the injection site, muscle pain, joint pain, fever, chills, headache, nausea, and fatigue, the research team reported in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Overall, post-vaccination symptoms were reported by roughly 73% of patients regardless of whether they had cancer, with pain at the injection site being the most common adverse event.
Earlier studies have found vaccine hesitancy among cancer patients, the researchers noted. The harms of COVID-19 are “compounded for patients with cancer who have refused vaccination,” they said. “Our data, in combination with those from other sources, show that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is well tolerated by patients with a history of cancer, including those receiving active treatment.”
