Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy in Those with SLE and RA

May 31, 2022

A recent study, published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, aimed to “investigate the seroreactivity of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination and its adverse events among systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and healthy controls (HCs)”. Seroreactivity is the reactivity of blood serum, especially to a virus, and involves the analysis of the presence of specific antibodies. 60 SLE patients, 70 RA patients, and 35 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited for the study. Serum samples, collected 2 weeks after 2 doses of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine had been administered, were tested for immunoglobin G (IgG) and M (IgM) antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

The results indicated that “there were no significant differences regarding the seroprevalences of IgG and IgM antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, and the self-reported vaccination-related adverse events among SLE patients, RA patients, and HCs. The inactivated COVID-19 vaccines appeared to be well-tolerated and moderately immunogenic.” More specifically, 50% of those with SLE, 57.1% of those with RA, and 65.7% of the healthy controls had IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 present and 8.3% of those with SLE, 8.6% of those with RA, and 2.9% of the healthy controls had IgM antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 present.