Immunocompromised Man Appears to Have Poor Immunity Despite 4 COVID-19 Shots

By Prattiba JaiSri On Nov 11, 2021

Kidney transplant recipient Andrew Linder had an antibody test yet came back negative even after receiving four doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, a CNN report said.

The 34 year old is still staying at home almost all the time and strictly limiting his contact with people other than his wife because of insecurity of his protection against the virus.

Linder received a kidney transplant from his wife Emily in 2019, and he will be on immunosuppressants for the rest of his life to keep his body from rejecting the organ.

Health officials are recommending third and even fourth shots to boost Covid-19 resistance for people with certain conditions, but that hasn’t eased the fears of some immunocompromised people.

The CDC authorized a third dose for certain immunocompromised people 18 and older in August. It said a third dose, rather than a booster — the CDC makes a distinction between the two — was necessary because the immunocompromised may not have had a complete immune response from the first two doses.

A study from Johns Hopkins University this summer showed that vaccinated immunocompromised people were 485 times more likely to end up in the hospital or die from Covid-19 compared to most vaccinated people.

In small studies, the CDC said, fully vaccinated immunocompromised people accounted for about 44% of the breakthrough cases that required hospitalization. People who are immunocompromised are also more likely to transmit the virus to people who had close contact with them.

The US Food and Drug Administration has also authorized booster shots of all three available vaccines for certain people and that would include the immune compromised, the CDC says.

Research showed that a booster dose enhanced the antibody response to the vaccine in certain immunocompromised people.

Andrew Linder had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and later an additional dose and a booster. However, he and his family were disappointed when the antibody test came back and the test came back negative.

“I had no antibodies whatsoever. That was shocking and scary and sucky for sure,” Linder said.

“I almost feel just as unsafe or if not potentially a little bit more unsafe now than at the beginning of the pandemic, just for the fact that I could get it at this point in time.”

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