Covid-19 vaccination helps prevent deaths in kidney patients

Santo Domingo, DR

Hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients develop a high antibody response when completing the vaccination scheme against Covid-19, reducing hospitalizations and deaths due to the disease.

This was explained by the Spanish specialist Marian Goicoechea when speaking on the subject of Covid-19 in hemodialysis patients in Spain, where she presented the results of studies carried out in patients with chronic kidney disease, where it was shown that they develop a high antibody response 28 days after the second dose is administered.

The international expert referred to the subject while participating in the XII National Congress of Nephrology, XX Dominican-Spanish Course, and III Central American and Caribbean Meeting of Transplantation, held by the Dominican Society of Nephrology specialized in the country with the participation of national and foreign experts.

Goicoechea pointed out that patients with renal insufficiency who receive hemodialysis treatment are vulnerable to becoming seriously ill due to Covid-19. For that reason, they are being included for the placement of the third dose of vaccine against the virus, with excellent results.

The specialist said that preliminary studies indicate that all those vaccinated developed antibodies 28 days after receiving the second dose, with no difference between the sexes, and that in transplant patients, the response is lower.

She noted that in Spain a third dose is being given to both hemodialysis and transplant patients and that studies have shown that the response is more significant after a third dose.

Goicoechea said that it is evident that the mortality of renal patients is very high when they become ill with Covid-19, so the vaccine is an essential preventive measure.

The scientific activity that concludes this Sunday brings together specialists from different countries, where the main problems affecting renal patients, advances and new developments in treatments, and the situation of renal transplantation are discussed.

It also includes discussions on arterial hypertension and renal damage, hemodialysis patients, risk stratification in the critically ill patient in the Dominican Republic, and new treatments to reduce the cardiovascular risk of renal patients, among other topics.