COVID-19 vaccine immunogenicity and population-based outcome studies in patients with hematologic malignancies

This thesis aimed to explore the potential of COVID-19 vaccination and passive immunization in immunocompromised patients with hematologic malignancies, who faced disproportionately high COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality.
Chapters 2-4 show that intensified COVID-19 mRNA vaccination induced robust antibody and T cell responses in the majority of patients with hematologic malignancies. Only in a subset of patients both humoral and cellular responses remained impaired. Chapter 5 demonstrates that vaccination protected patients with hematologic malignancies from COVID-19-related hospitalization and mortality, although to a lesser extent compared to the general population. Vaccine uptake, analyzed in Chapter 6, appeared to be lower among younger patients, those with lower income, and individuals from ethnic minority groups. In Chapter 7, passive immunization was explored, and it was found that hyperimmune globulin therapy reduced COVID-19 severity in immunocompromised patients hospitalized with COVID-19.