• Rémi Goupil, Mehdi Benlarbi, William Beaubien-Souligny, Annie-Claire Nadeau-Fredette, Debashree Chatterjee, Guillaume Goyette, Lakshman Gunaratnam, Caroline Lamarche, Alexander Tom, Andrés Finzi, Rita S Suri, and Réseau Rénal Québécois (Quebec Renal Network) COVID-19 Study Investigators.
• Centre de recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal (Goupil); Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) (Benlarbi, Chatterjee, Goyette, Finzi, Suri); Centre de recherche de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (Nadeau-Fredette, Lamarche), Montréal, Que.; Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine (Gunaratnam), Western University, London, Ont.; Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (Tom, Suri); Département de microbiologie, infectiologie et immunologie (Finzi), Université de Montréal; Department of Microbiology and Immunology (Finzi), McGill University; Division of Nephrology (Suri), Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Que.
• CMAJ. 2021 May 31; 193 (22): E793-E800.

BackgroundPatients receiving in-centre hemodialysis are at high risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and death if infected. One dose of the BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is efficacious in the general population, but responses in patients receiving hemodialysis are uncertain.MethodsWe obtained serial plasma from patients receiving hemodialysis and health care worker controls before and after vaccination with 1 dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, as well as convalescent plasma from patients receiving hemodialysis who survived COVID-19. We measured anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels and stratified groups by evidence of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.ResultsOur study included 154 patients receiving hemodialysis (135 without and 19 with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection), 40 controls (20 without and 20 with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection) and convalescent plasma from 16 patients. Among those without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, anti-RBD IgG was undetectable at 4 weeks in 75 of 131 (57%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 47% to 65%) patients receiving hemodialysis, compared with 1 of 20 (5%, 95% CI 1% to 23%) controls (p < 0.001). No patient with nondetectable levels at 4 weeks developed anti-RBD IgG by 8 weeks. Results were similar in non-immunosuppressed and younger individuals. Three patients receiving hemodialysis developed severe COVID-19 after vaccination. Among those with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, median anti-RBD IgG levels at 8 weeks in patients receiving hemodialysis were similar to controls at 3 weeks (p = 0.3) and to convalescent plasma (p = 0.8).InterpretationA single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine failed to elicit a humoral immune response in most patients receiving hemodialysis without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, even after prolonged observation. In those with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, the antibody response was delayed. We advise that patients receiving hemodialysis be prioritized for a second BNT162b2 dose at the recommended 3-week interval.© 2021 CMA Joule Inc. or its licensors.

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