Immune response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in patients with psoriasis undergoing treatment with biologics
Matteo Megna, Luca Potestio, Teresa Battista, Elisa Camela, Lucia Genco, Matteo Noto, Gabriella Fabbrocini, Fabrizio Martora
Abstract
Dear Editor, Several strategies have been adopted to fight against COVID‐19.1 Among these, vaccination is the main weapon to overcome the pandemic.2 Currently, two viral vector‐based vaccines Ad26.COV2.S (Johnson & Johnson) and AZD1222 (AstraZeneca) and two mRNA vaccines [mRNA‐1273 (Moderna) BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech)] have been authorized by the Italian Medicines Agency.2 The possible impaired efficacy of vaccines in patients with psoriasis under immunosuppressive/immunomodulant treatment is being widely debated. In this context, we read with great interest the article recently published in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology by Marovt et al.,3 which showed that antibody response against COVID‐19 following two doses of BNT162b2 vaccine in patients with psoriasis undergoing biologic treatment did not differ significantly from that of healthy controls in terms of seroconversion. We conducted a similar prospective study at the Dermatology Centre of the University of Naples Federico II. Blood samples were collected from patients at approximately 4 weeks (range 3–6 weeks) following the second dose of COVID‐19 vaccination. Only mRNA vaccines were considered; patients receiving viral vector‐based vaccination or with a history of COVID‐19 infection were excluded.