The easing of COVID-19 restrictions has only added to the fear of 43-year-old Jennifer Trokhan, who is fully vaccinated yet wholly unprotected from the coronavirus because her immune system is suppressed by medicine she takes to prevent organ rejection.
“I take about 15 pills a day,” she said.
Dr. Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said he’s heard similar stories.
Johns Hopkins tested the vaccine’s effectiveness on Trokhan. She received two shots but produced no antibodies.
A recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found 46% of 658 transplant patients who got two doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine produced no COVID-19 antibodies.
“So this is really much more of a stark contrast than we had expected,” Segev said.
Centers for Disease and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said that people with compromised immune systems should continue wearing face masks even after being vaccinated against COVID-19.