Covid 19 Vaccine & Obesity: May Be Less Effective In High BMI People Like Flu, Hep B Vaccines

[appalachiablue]

'COVID-19 vaccine may be less effective in obese people, experts warn.' Vaccines have a history of performing poorly in those who are overweight. ABC News, *Aug. 12, 2020.

As the world waits for a COVID-19 vaccine, concerns are already rising that it may not work in obese patients, arguably one of the groups that needs it most. More than 1 in 3 Americans is obese, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that obese people are among the groups more likely to get sick and die of COVID-19.

We know from other vaccines that have been tested in obese populations that these individuals don't respond as well to these vaccines," said Dr. Matthew B. Laurens, a lead investigator at the University of Maryland School of Medicine for one of the United States' most advanced coronavirus vaccine trials by Moderna Therapeutics.
> Research has long shown that vaccines against viruses like influenza and hepatitis B, as well as other disease-causing organisms like tetanus and rabies, are not as effective in obese adults compared to their thinner peers.

Evidence of this phenomenon goes as far back as 1985, when hundreds of hospital employees in North Carolina were vaccinated against hepatitis B and then studied to see how their immune systems responded. Researchers found that the vaccine was twice as likely to fail -- meaning it did not provide adequate protection against hepatitis B -- in employees with a higher body mass index compared to their colleagues with lower BMIs...

In 2017, researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill reported similar findings in patients getting their yearly flu shot. In their study of over 1,000 participants, they found that obese adults were twice as likely to develop influenza or an influenza-like illness -- despite having been vaccinated against the virus -- compared to non-obese adults.

With 42.4% of the American population being classified as obese, and research identifying obesity as a major risk factor for COVID-19 infection and severe complications from the disease, this is giving some experts reason for pause...

Read More, Video (loud),

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-19-vaccine-effective-obese-people-experts-warn/story?id=72335991

[intrepidity]

1. I would think the trials, esp in US, would take this into acct nt

[appalachiablue]

3. It should be but is it? Some are now asking b/c of new vaccines.

ABC News, Aug. 2020.. For now, perhaps the only way to know for sure whether the vaccine will work in the obese is to include them in large phase 3 trials -- the last step before authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.

"It's important to enroll obese people, because they are likely to have associated chronic illnesses, and you really get to see if the vaccine helps those highly at-risk people," said Dr. Arthur L. Caplan, the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty professor of bioethics at the New York University Langone Medical Center.

Historically, obese people have been largely excluded from vaccine trials, because of these chronic illnesses, like diabetes and high blood pressure.

MORE: Coronavirus vaccine developers, however, are now attempting to combat this disparity by actively enrolling obese patients in their clinical trials.

"We think it's important to develop a vaccine that is going to work for everyone," said Laurens. "That's why we're trying to be as inclusive as possible in the phase 3 studies -- so that we can learn more about how to protect particularly the vulnerable populations, including the obese."

Nate Wood, M.D., is an internal medicine/primary care resident at Yale New Haven Hospital and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

[Blue Owl]

2. Sucks for Donny

[appalachiablue]

4. He was very lucky & had excellent care. Boris Johnson,

although younger is also overweight but survived Covid with the best care. He's rumored to have lingering heart issues.

[CentralMass]

5. Make mine a double please.

[BigmanPigman]

6. Bill Maher has mentioned twice this year that obese Americans

Last edited Wed Nov 18, 2020, 04:45 PM - Edit history (1)

are more at risk for getting Covid and less likely to recover. He said the scientific community needs to make this information more well known. People jumped all over him saying he was judgmental towards people who are overweight when he was merely stating what is well known among doctors.

[appalachiablue]

7. I've known that obese people are less likely to recover but

not that vaccines were less effective- Influenza, Hep B, Tetanus and possibly Covid.

This is real bad news for the dangerously high American obese population.

This country really needs to step up public education on clean food and a healthy lifestyle over obesity and illness.

Bill Maher works out constantly and is quite proud of his 'physique.'

Long before Covid, I think he was accused of 'fat shaming' but am not positive, and more.

I haven't watched his shows in a while and didn't see these on obese Americans and Covid.

[Turin_C3PO]

8. Looks like I need to drop about 45 pounds.

This is as good an excuse as any to get healthier.