COVID-19 Vaccination Guidance: Cancer Patients (NCCN, 2021)

Preliminary recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer were published in January 2021 by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) on the NCCN Web site.^[1]

Note: COVID-19 vaccines should be prioritized over other needed vaccines. It is recommended that there be an interval of 14 days between administration of COVID-19 vaccines and administration of other approved vaccines.

Patients Receiving Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation or Cellular Therapy

It is recommended that COVID-19 vaccination take place ≥3 months after hematopoietic cell transplantation (allogeneic or autologous) or cellular therapy (eg, chimeric antigen receptor [CAR] T cell therapy).

Patients With Hematologic Malignancies

For patients receiving intensive cytotoxic chemotherapy, COVID-19 vaccination should be delayed until the absolute neutrophil count has recovered.

For patients with marrow failure from disease or therapy who are expected to have limited or no recovery, as well as for patients on long-term maintenance therapy, COVID-19 vaccination should be performed when the vaccine becomes available.

Patients With Solid-Tumor Malignancies

For patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy, targeted therapy, checkpoint inhibitor therapy or other immunotherapy, or radiation therapy, COVID-19 vaccination should be performed when the vaccine becomes available.

For patients undergoing major surgical procedures, COVID-19 vaccination should be postponed until at least a few days after surgery.

Patients’ Caregivers and Contacts

Caregivers, household members, and close contacts aged 16 years or older should be vaccinated whenever they are eligible to receive the vaccine.

For more information, please go to Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19).

For more Clinical Practice Guidelines, please go to Guidelines.

Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.

Cite this: COVID-19 Vaccination in Cancer Patients Clinical Practice Guidelines (NCCN, 2021) - Medscape - Feb 26, 2021.

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