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BACKGROUND AND AIMS Vaccination against COVID-19 is a promising strategy to reduce the risk for severe COVID-19. Patients on maintenance haemodialysis have a less robust immunoresponse than the general population. Triple vaccination might improve immunogenicity, and might benefit patients having a poor initial response. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the humoral response to heterologous (a combination of different vaccine types) versus homologous (three identical vaccines) triple vaccination against COVID-19. METHOD We analyzed serological response to homologous (3 times mRNA-based vaccine) versus heterologous (adenoviral vectored plus mRNA vaccines) triple regimens in samples from patients on maintenance dialysis (NCT04378686). We measured IgG anti–S (spike) SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels using the IgG II Quant assay (Abbott). Samples were collected between 6 and 12 weeks after both the second and the third vaccine dose. RESULTS A total of 302 patients received three vaccine doses. 94 patients received a heterologous regimen of the adenoviral vectored AZD1222 (2 doses) and the mRNA-based BNT162b2 (1 dose). The remaining 208 patients received a triple mRNA vaccine regimen of either BNT162b2 (n = 149) or mRNA-1273 (n = 59). Triple vaccine regimens resulted in significant elevation of anti-S titers, as compared with the conventional prime-boost (double) vaccination. A substantially and significantly larger fraction of patients reached the threshold for neutralizing antibodies after triple vaccination, as compared with after double vaccination. The yield of a third dose of mRNA-1273 is less than the yield of a third dose of BNT162b2. This, however, mainly reflects the initial significant better response to mRNA-1273. In multivariate analysis, a past episode of COVID-19 was a strong modulator of the response after double vaccination, and after triple vaccination. CONCLUSION Both heterologous and homologous triple vaccine regimens significantly augment the humoral response against SARS-CoV-2. The higher the ininitial response to the double prime-boost regimen, the lower the yield of a third vaccine dose. It seems prudent to prioritize vaccination of dialysis patients using mRNA-based vaccines when available.

Background: This article summarizes the European Renal Association - European Dialysis and Transplant Association Registry's 2014 annual report. It describes the epidemiology of renal replacement therapy (RRT) for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in 2014 within 35 countries. Methods: In 2016, the ERA-EDTA Registry received data on patients who in 2014 where undergoing RRT for ESRD, from 51 national or regional renal registries. Thirty-two registries provided individual patient level data and 19 provided aggregated patient level data. The incidence, prevalence and survival probabilities of these patients were determined. Results: In 2014, 70 953 individuals commenced RRT for ESRD, equating to an overall unadjusted incidence rate of 133 per million population (pmp). The incidence ranged by 10-fold; from 23 pmp in the Ukraine to 237 pmp in Portugal. Of the patients commencing RRT, almost two-thirds were men, over half were aged ≥65 years and a quarter had diabetes mellitus as their primary renal diagnosis. By day 91 of commencing RRT, 81% of patients were receiving haemodialysis. On 31 December 2014, 490 743 individuals were receiving RRT for ESRD, equating to an unadjusted prevalence of 924 pmp. This ranged throughout Europe by more than 10-fold, from 157 pmp in the Ukraine to 1794 pmp in Portugal. In 2014, 19 406 kidney transplantations were performed, equating to an overall unadjusted transplant rate of 36 pmp. Again this varied considerably throughout Europe. For patients commencing RRT during 2005-09, the 5-year-adjusted patient survival probabilities on all RRT modalities was 63.3% (95% confidence interval 63.0-63.6). The expected remaining lifetime of a 20- to 24-year-old patient with ESRD receiving dialysis or living with a kidney transplant was 21.9 and 44.0 years, respectively. This was substantially lower than the 61.8 years of expected remaining lifetime of a 20-year-old patient without ESRD., 0, SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published