As COVID ramps up again and skepticism about vaccines is spread, many people are wondering if it is worth the risk to have the shot, particularly cancer patients.

One of the key challenges with vaccines in general is to prove they don’t just work in healthy people, but also in patients with serious diseases, who often need the protection most. Excluding these patients from trials improves safety and the validity of trial results, but leaves doctors and patients scratching their heads about whether or not to vaccinate.

Now evidence is starting to be gleaned from clinical practice data to both guide the use of vaccines and improve their study.

A couple of studies that appear in the most recent JAMA Oncology added important new evidence. One looked at “Risk Factors for COVID-

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