University of Florida researchers found that advanced lung and skin cancer patients lived “significantly longer” after receiving the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.
This finding, in conjunction with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, comes as the DeSantis administration attempts to ban vaccine mandates, including for public school students.
“This is one of the most exciting observations I have seen in my 20-year career as a cancer researcher,” Dr. Duane Mitchell, director of the UF Clinical Translational Science Institute, said in a video announcing the research.
In early September, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced a push to eliminate all vaccine mandates in Florida. Ladapo attacked government mandates, saying, “Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God.”
READ MORE: Physicians plead with Florida lawmakers to resist ban on vaccine mandates
Last month, appearing on the “On Call” podcast with Houston physician Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, Ladapo said, “The goal with the mRNA is for that not to be available to anyone, because no one should be using that one.”
Meanwhile, researchers at UF, where Ladapo is also a professor of medicine, are optimistic that mRNA vaccines will change the way cancer is treated.
“The notion that we may be able to use a simple vaccine to awaken a patient’s immune response to better fight their disease may totally change the way we think about treating cancer for the foreseeable future,” Mitchell said.
Researchers highlight mRNA vaccines (for messenger RNA) for the way they can boost the body’s immune response, “a significant step toward a long-awaited universal cancer vaccine to boost the tumor-fighting effects of immunotherapy,” UF said in its news release.
“The implications are extraordinary — this could revolutionize the entire field of oncologic care,” said co-senior author Dr. Elias Sayour, a UF Health pediatric oncologist. “We could design an even better nonspecific vaccine to mobilize and reset the immune response, in a way that could essentially be a universal, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine for all cancer patients.”
Study results
The observation is based on more than 1,000 patients at the Texas facility. Although preliminary, the results could have a widespread reach if validated in a clinical trial, UF said.
The university said the next step is a clinical trial through the OneFlorida+ Clinical Research Network.
The research focused on patients with stage 3 and 4 non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic melanoma between 2019 and 2023.
Patients who received the COVID mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting cancer treatment drugs were “associated with living longer by a significant amount.” Lung cancer patients with the vaccine had a median survival increase from 20.6 months to 37.3 months. Metastatic melanoma patients increased survival length from an average of 26.7 months to 30-40 months.
Non-mRNA vaccines provided no change in longevity, the research found.
“Although not yet proven to be causal, this is the type of treatment benefit that we strive for and hope to see with therapeutic interventions — but rarely do,” Mitchell said.
The National Cancer Institute and “multiple foundations” funded the research.
The study’s first author, Dr. Adam Grippin, trained at UF and now works at the Texas facility.
Last month, First Lady Casey DeSantis, a cancer survivor and co-chair of the Florida Make America Healthy Again Commission, announced $60 million in grants to support, in part, “research into the benefits of repurposing generics, like ivermectin, to fight cancer.”
Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, is subject of a bill in the Florida House that would allow for it to be sold over the counter. According to the National Institutes of Health, the drug is effective for treating parasites in animals, and for humans to treat parasites such as head lice and scabies. The FDA has not approved the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 or cancer.
“Generic medicines are often overlooked because they’re off-patent and don’t necessarily promise big profits. Florida is investing in researching them to learn more and hopefully uncover new ways to beat cancer,” she wrote on social media.
As for a statewide ban on vaccine mandates, Ladapo said that during the coming legislative session, legislators will “have to choose a side. And I am telling you right now that you know the moral side is, it’s so simple.”
In order to remove all vaccine mandates, lawmakers would have to change statute, although agency officials can eliminate other mandates through rulemaking.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
