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iCMLf Conversation on CML-COVID-19 vaccines and CML

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Update on COVID-19 vaccines and CML
Join our two experts as they discuss key aspects on COVID-19 vaccines for patients with CML.

COVID-19 vaccine overview: Professor Steve Wesselingh, from the South Australia Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide (Australia)

COVID-19 vaccines for patients with CML: Dr Kendra Sweet, Haematologist at the MOFFITT Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa (USA)

Professor Steve Wesselingh, an Infectious Disease physician and researcher in Neurobiology, HIV and vaccine development will provide an overview of the different types of COVID-19 vaccines currently in use around the world.

As a haematologist, Dr Kendra Sweet will then put this into perspective for CML.
She will share current experience with COVID-19 vaccines in patients with CML and provide guidance on how to best manage patients with CML.

The webinar will be held from 13.30 – 14.15 Central European Time.

Times in other times zones:

ACST – Australian Central Standard Time: 21.00

BRT – Brazilian Time: 08.30
CAT – Central African Time: 13.30
CST – China Standard Time: 19.30
EAT – East Africa Time: 14.30
EST – Eastern Standard Time: 07.30
GMT – Greenwich Mean Time: 12.30
IST – Indian Standard Time: 17.00

If you have any questions or need assistance, please email to stefanie@cml-foundation.org

  • Can I ask questions during the webinar?

An important part of the conversation will be questions from the audience. You can submit your questions via chat during the webinar and the experts will answer as many as possible during the Q&A session.

  • Can I watch the webinar at a later time?

The webinar will be made available on the iCMLf website after the event.

Hi Sandy,

Thanks for posting this.

Hopefully this presentation might throw some light on the some of the issues and queries that exist for CML patients such as whether there is any preferred type of vaccine for us,the interval between 1 st and 2 nd doses and following the SOAP study whether we because of our condition are in fact less likely to produce antibodies to the virus.

Regarding the matter of the best vaccine for us in UK at present we have little choice as we have to accept the dose that is on offer at the time. Currently Pfizer using the mRNA technology seems to have been the first one on initial offer prior to Christmas 2020 -UK government has ordered 40 million doses.There is though the possibility that our so called friends in Europe will place export bans on the Pfizer exports from the Netherlands and Belgian manufacturing plants so some of us with a first dose of Pfizer might find a shortage or be asked to take a substitute. Astra Zenica which is very much in the news and which uses the viral vector method has 100m on order for UK. Moderna another mRNA approach has recently started to be offered in UK as well .So it seems whatever is available in the world and whatever might be best for us CML sufferers, in the UK we are limited to the three vaccines as described above-but this  is likely to change I suggest.

Valneva (inactive whole virus) has undergone small trials so far, but in April will be used on 4000 UK volunteers and if approved then will be produced at Livingstone and Darlington-100m doses are on order from the UK government.Novavax {protein adjuvant) has ongoing trials and is being produced at Stockton on Tees-60m ordered.Jannsen a one shot viral vector has 30 m on order.There are 60 m doses ordered for GSK/SanofiPasteur.

I guess that if we are concerned about being vulnerable then the extent of vaccine hesitancy is important because the greater the take up in a country we are told the safer we are.UK alongside Thailand leads the way with about 90 per cent intending to take a vaccine when offered and France rumoured to be about 30-35 percent with an aversion to Astra Zenica. Another measure is that of the percent of the adult population vaccinated so far -in UK at 40 percent together with Dubai we lag behind Israel. In terms of a vaccine that will protect against UK,South Africa and Brazilian variants Pfizer seems to have the best possibility.

I have tried to summarise the position from the UK perspective without getting into comment on potential vaccine wars;one point I will add though is that all the lipids which is a vital ingredient for Pfizer mRNA are supplied from a factory in Yorkshire and exported to Europe for their production plants.

Other countries might have a different situation in terms of specific vaccines on offer and priority given to CML patients.

I have a 2nd Pfizer dose hopefully that might come up in April but if unavailable due to export bans  then perhaps the Moderna one might be on offer(same technology)

Other variables  I have not mentioned above might be age of patient and tki being used for treatment and level of response/log reduction.

Are there any other data that ideally we would like to see available for  management of CML in the context of Covid vaccines?

I look forward to this event.

Regards

John