Bulgarian study finds cancer patients with mRNA COVID-19 jabs live longer

Cancer patients who received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have markedly higher long-term survival rates than their unvaccinated counterparts, according to a large-scale Bulgarian study, offering some of the most extensive follow-up data to date on oncology patients after COVID.

The research, published in the European Journal of Cancer, tracks nearly 1800 patients with solid tumours who were hospitalised with COVID-19 and survived the acute phase of infection. The cohort was followed over a five-year period, making it the longest observational study of its kind.

Bulgaria’s uniquely low vaccination uptake, around 30% during the pandemic, the lowest in Europe, provided researchers with unusually distinct control groups. The country also recorded one of the world’s highest COVID-19 mortality rates, ranking second globally after Peru in deaths per capita.

According to Associate Professor Trifon Valkov, an infectious disease specialist, this context enabled a rare analytical…