A new study has found that receiving messenger RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines such as those from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) could boost the survival rates of patients undergoing a class of oncology drugs known as immunotherapies.
According to findings presented this week at the 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin, lung cancer patients who received COVID shots witnessed an almost two-fold improvement in survival.
The analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Texas MD Anderson was based on medical records of over 1,000 patients who received treatments for advanced skin and lung cancer at MD Anderson between 2019 and 2023.
Their findings suggest that patients who received COVID jabs before or after initiating immunotherapies within 100 days were linked to higher median survival rates.
According to the study, recipients of COVID shots with advanced lung cancer and metastatic melanoma improved their survival rates from 20.6 to 37.3 months and from 26.7 months to 30–40 months, respectively.
Some of the patients were still alive at the time of data collection, meaning the effects could be even stronger, the researchers said, adding there was no such survival benefit seen in those who were on immunotherapy drugs and received non-mRNA shots for pneumonia or flu.
While the results were preliminary and retrospective, the researchers noted that if confirmed in a prospective, randomized clinical trial, which they are currently planning, their findings “could have a widespread clinical impact.”
Further validating the results, University of Florida researchers found that tying cancer immunotherapies with COVID-targeted mRNA shots could limit tumor growth by making unresponsive tumors into responsive ones.
“The results from this study demonstrate how powerful mRNA medicines truly are and that they are revolutionizing our treatment of cancer,” The Independent reported, quoting Dr. Jeff Coller, a professor of RNA biology and therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University.