Vaccination against the coronavirus also protects people with a donor kidney against post-COVID if there is a sufficient response. This follows from research by the RECOVAC consortium that was recently published in the journal International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
In general, people with a donor kidney have an increased risk of becoming ill from COVID-19. They also have fewer antibodies after a corona vaccination than healthy people. If people with a donor kidney respond well to the vaccination, it can protect against serious illness from corona. This was previously evident from the RECOVAC study, in which more than 5,000 kidney patients completed questionnaires at home and blood was taken by means of a finger prick to measure antibodies after vaccination.
Now the same research shows that a good response also protects against long COVID. People with a donor kidney were 50% less likely to develop post-COVID if they had many antibodies, compared to people with a donor kidney without antibodies. Repeated corona vaccination increased the number of antibodies against the virus. The researchers therefore expect that repeated vaccination will remain useful in people with a donor kidney.
The RECOVAC consortium is currently investigating how the effect of corona vaccination can be further improved in people with a donor kidney. RECOVAC is a collaboration between all university hospitals, various regional hospitals and other partners in the Netherlands.
Source:
MUMC
