Peer-reviewed article
Humoral response and safety of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in children with rheumatic diseases
Özlem Akgün, Figen Çakmak, Vafa Guliyeva, Fatma Gül Demirkan, Ayşe Tanatar et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study measured how well children with rheumatic diseases who take immunosuppressive medications respond to the COVID-19 BNT162b2 vaccine. Forty-one children received two doses of the vaccine and were tested for antibody levels three to four weeks after the second dose. All children developed strong immune responses with good safety, though those on combined medication therapy had slightly lower antibody levels than those on single treatments.
Key points
- All 41 children developed elevated anti-RBD IgG antibodies after the second vaccine dose with a median titre of 20,474 AU/ml
- Children receiving combined therapy (both conventional and biologic drugs) had significantly lower antibody titres (median 4,695) than those on conventional drugs alone
- No serious safety concerns were reported during the study period
- Children continued their immunomodulatory treatments without interruption during vaccination
- The median disease duration in the cohort was 4.3 years
Limitations
The study is a small single-cohort observational study without a comparison group of healthy children, so it cannot determine whether antibody responses differ from children without rheumatic diseases. It also does not measure how long antibody protection lasts or whether the immune response prevents actual COVID-19 infection.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine represents a cornerstone in tackling the pandemic and with the approval of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in December 2020, it has become a beacon of hope for people around the world, including children. This study aimed to present the data on the humoral response and safety of vaccine in a cohort of patients with paediatric rheumatic diseases receiving immunomodulatory treatments. METHODS: Forty-one children with paediatric rheumatic diseases were included and were vaccinated with the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (two doses of 30 µg administered 3-4 weeks apart). To assess the humoral response, IgG antibodies developed against the S1/Receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein at baseline and 3-4 weeks after the second dose were measured. The possible local and systemic side effects and disease activity scores were evaluated during the study period. RESULTS: After the second dose of vaccine, markedly elevated anti-RBD IgG titres were observed in all patients with a median titre of 20 474 AU/ml [interquartile range (IQR) 6534-36 151] with a good safety profile. The median disease duration was 4.3 (IQR 3.5-5.6) years. In the cohort, 14 (34.1%) received conventional DMARDs (cDMARDs), 16 (39%) received biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) and 11 (26.8%) received a combined therapy (cDMARDs and bDMARDs). Patients treated with combined therapy [median 4695 (IQR 2764-26 491)] had significantly lower median titres of anti-RBD IgG than those receiving only cDMARDs. CONCLUSION: Paediatric rheumatic diseases patients receiving immunomodulatory treatments were able to mount an effective humoral response after two dose regimens of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine safely without interrupting their current treatments.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine given as two doses 3-4 weeks apart to children with paediatric rheumatic diseases on ongoing immunomodulatory treatments
- Population
- 41 children with paediatric rheumatic diseases: 34.1% on conventional DMARDs, 39% on biologic DMARDs, 26.8% on combined therapy
Key finding
All 41 children mounted effective humoral response with median anti-RBD IgG titre of 20,474 AU/ml