Chinese expert consensus on coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination for breast cancer patients

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination is one of the most important interventions for establishing herd immunity, reducing the rate of infections and deaths, and achieving effective prevention and control of the pandemic. Furthermore, vaccination for vulnerable populations, including the elderly, children, and tumor patients, has become a key issue during the fight against this pandemic. However, most vaccine clinical trials did not include patients with advanced malignancies; moreover, there are no available data on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines for this population. Although the viral vectors for adenoviral vector vaccines used are replication deficient, there are no existing safety data on the use of the same vaccine types. Therefore, cancer patients should be fully informed about the potential benefits and risks of COVID-19 vaccination. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the diagnosis and treatment patterns of breast cancer have changed according to the specific grade and stage of the malignancy to ensure the safety of patients. However, there is no direct evidence of whether breast cancer patients can receive COVID-19 vaccination and the timing of vaccination. To promote the rational COVID-19 vaccination in breast cancer patients, the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology-Breast Cancer held an online expert meeting on September 9, 2021, during which participants voted on issues related to vaccination for breast cancer patients in China and created expert recommendations on different breast cancer grades to guide clinical practice.