Clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with multiple sclerosis treated with ocrelizumab in the pre- and post-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination periods: Insights from Israel.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused challenges in the management of patients living with multiple sclerosis (PLwMS). We investigated the occurrence and severity of COVID-19 infection post-vaccination among PLwMS treated with ocrelizumab and enrolled in the Maccabi Health Services (MHS) (n = 289) or followed at the Hadassah Medical Center (HMC) (n = 80) in Israel. Most patients were fully vaccinated (MHS n = 218; HMC n = 76) and confirmed infection post-vaccination was low (3.7% and 2.6%, respectively). MHS: infection was more severe (hospitalization/intensive care unit/death) in non-vaccinated (33.3%) vs vaccinated patients (25%). HMC: one vaccinated patient required hospitalization with COVID-19 vs two unvaccinated patients. These data from two Israel cohorts suggest that occurrence of COVID-19 after mRNA vaccination is low and limited in severity.