Relief and worry for immune-suppressed people

Many millions of people worldwide have suppressed immune systems because of illness or medications, including those taken after an organ transplant, for an autoimmune disease, or to treat cancer—and a big question is how well COVID-19 vaccines work for them. In many, the vaccines do seem to maintain their potency. But in others—particularly organ transplant recipients and those taking specific immune-dampening medications—effectiveness is less assured or even absent. To learn more, researchers are launching larger studies, seeking clarity for these patients and ways to help those in need, especially as their weakened immune systems make protection against COVID-19 all the more urgent.