As per the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) the USA, many cohort studies have proved that cancer patients, if infected with COVID-19, can face several complications. The NCCN has thus issued a set of guidelines to keep in mind before vaccinating cancer patients for preventing the infection. Recommendations from these guidelines are given in the following article.

NCCN guidelines for COVID vaccination in cancer patients

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), USA has published a set of guidelines for administering COVID-19 vaccines to cancer patients. A few important points and recommendations from the set of guidelines are given below.

1. Cancer patients should be vaccinated for immunity as soon as vaccines are available for them. This includes patients receiving active therapy.
2. Exceptions must be made for patients, who have received Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) or Engineered Cellular Therapy (eg, Chimeric Antigen Receptor [CAR] T cells). Such patients can be vaccinated after a period of three months.
3. For patients who are in the process of receiving intensive cytotoxic chemotherapy, it is advised to wait until the absolute neutrophil count has normalised.
4. Patients with active cancer or recent diagnosis (<6 months) or those whose treatment has been planned should be given the highest priority for immunisation. There is limited data available on vaccinating patients with active malignancy and therefore, this approach may be modified at a later date, based on the opinion of the advisory committee. If any surgical procedures have been planned for the patient, vaccination for COVID-19 is best postponed for some time after the surgery - by a few days at least or if possible, about a week or two.

COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for cancer patients

+COVID-19 vaccines should be prioritized over other needed vaccines, as data on dual vaccination are not available to date. Fourteen days are recommended between COVID-19 vaccines and other approved vaccines.
±Discussion with clinical trial leads should be considered in advance to prevent protocol violations or exclusions.

5. Family members or caregivers of cancer patients can be potential carriers and hence, should be vaccinated at the earliest after they qualify for their turn. However, NCCN recommends that vaccinated cancer patients should continue following the general advisories for COVID-19 prevention.
6. Administering vaccines to cancer patients should be done in the safest manner possible; information on locations should be provided to cancer centres.
7. In the case of limited vaccine availability, those with active cancer and undergoing therapy should be given preference over those, who are yet to complete therapy.

NCCN specifies that these recommendations and guidelines are preliminary and are based on the limited available data. Hence, guidelines will be updated and published as and when fresh data is available. It is also advised to take into consideration the local guidelines for vaccinating cancer patients alongside those by NCCN.