Author(s)

Lot Nehemie Motoula Latou¹, Moustapha Mbow², Modou Ndongo³, Gnagna Faye⁴, Gora Lo⁵, Sidy Mohamed Seck^1,6*

¹Department of Nephrology and Dialysis, Military Hospital of Ouakam, Dakar, Senegal.
²Immunology Laboratory, Military Hospital of Ouakam, Dakar, Senegal.
³Department of Nephrology and Dialysis, Regional Hospital of Kedougou, Kedougou, Senegal.
⁴Department of Nephrology, Idrissa Pouye General Hospital, Dakar, Senegal.
⁵Bacterioloy and Virology Laboratory, CMIA, Dakar, Senegal.
⁶IRL-3189 ESS/UGB/CNRS/UCAD/CNRST/USTB, Faculty of Health Sciences, University Gaston Berger, Saint-Louis, Senegal.

Introduction: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination has been proposed in several countries as the main preventive measure despite very limited data, particularly in dialysis patients. We conducted this study to assess the immunological response to vaccination in Senegalese hemodialysis patients. Patients and Methods: We conducted a prospective study, in two dialysis centers in Dakar from March 30^th to August 30^th, 2021 including patients on hemodialysis for >6 months, vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 according to the vaccination schedule recommended by WHO. A vaccine response was considered positive when seroconversion was observed after one dose of vaccine. The clinical efficacy of immunization was defined as the absence of new COVID-19 infection in patients who received a complete vaccination. Results: Among the 81 patients included in the study, 7.4% had anti-Spike IgM antibodies before their first vaccination. Seroprevalence of IgM antibodies was 38.3% one month after the first vaccine dose (at M1) and 8.6% one month after the second dose (at M4). Anti-Spike IgG antibodies were present in 40.3% of patients before vaccination, in 90.1% at M1, and in 59.7% at M4. Among patients previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, 10.2% had IgM antibodies at M0, 31.6% at M1, and 10.5% at M4 post-vaccination. Similarly, seroprevalences of IgG antibodies in this subgroup were 31.5%, 61.3%, and 50.0% respectively at M0, M1, and M4 post-vaccination. A comparison of seroconversion rates between M0 and M4 showed significant differences only for IgG in COVID-19 naive patients. Mean duration in dialysis and the existence of previous COVID-19 infection were associated with patients’ vaccinal response after the two doses. Age, gender and the use of immunosuppressive treatment did not influence post-vaccinal antibody production. Conclusion: Vaccination against COVID-19 in Senegalese hemodialysis patients induced a low seroconversion rate but it was well tolerated. Moreover, the induced protection was neither strong nor durable, particularly in patients with longer duration in dialysis.

SARS-Cov2 Vaccination, Humoral Response, Tolerance, Hemodialysis, Senegal

Latou, L. , Mbow, M. , Ndongo, M. , Faye, G. , Lo, G. and Seck, S. (2024) Humoral Response and Tolerance of Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in Adults Senegalese Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Multicenter Prospective Study. Open Journal of Nephrology, 14, 70-80. doi: 10.4236/ojneph.2024.141008.