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Immunocompromised And Concerned About The Vaccine? Here’s What You Need To Know

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“Lots of people have questions about getting vaccinated against COVID-19. That includes the millions of Americans with weakened immune systems that put them at higher risk of severe disease if they do get infected with the coronavirus.

“Patients want to know whether it’s safe to get it and, if they do get it, which one should they get? And of course, they also have concerns about how it can affect their own condition as well,” says Dr. Sharon Dowell, a rheumatologist at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., who says she has been getting a barrage of questions from patients lately.

People can be immunocompromised for a wide range of reasons. Some are being treated with immunosuppressive medications for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Crohn’s disease or psoriasis. Others are organ transplant recipients on powerful anti-rejection medications or cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Dowell and other doctors say vaccinating immunocompromised patients is especially important. But it also raises special considerations that these patients should discuss with their doctor beforehand. Here’s what you need to know.”

Read the full article, here.

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Cancer Patients and Transplant Recipients Need Both COVID-19 Vaccine Doses

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“Natural immunity and vaccine responses may be weaker in people with immune suppression, so they should get their second dose promptly

A majority of people with cancer and organ transplant recipients are capable of mounting an immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and can gain immunity from COVID-19 vaccines, according to recent research. But people with immune suppression may have slower and weaker responses to natural infection or vaccination, so it is especially important that they get their second dose on schedule.

People with serious immune suppression are at risk for more severe complications and death due to COVID-19. This group includes cancer patients who use immune-suppressing therapy, transplant recipients who take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent organ rejection and people with AIDS (advanced, uncontrolled HIV disease).

It is well known that immunosuppressed people can have weaker immune responses to natural infection and vaccination, but SARS-CoV-2 immunity in this population is not well understood. What’s more, cancer patients on treatment and other people with advanced immune suppression were generally excluded from COVID-19 vaccine trials (though people with well-controlled HIV could enroll).”

Read the full article, here.

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The reason I qualify for a Covid-19 vaccine has nothing to do with the fact that I’m immunocompromised. That needs to change

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“My cell phone rang on a Sunday afternoon in early March and I answered it immediately. It was my friend, a doctor who specializes in epidemiology and infectious diseases. She warned me that the coronavirus was about to surge in New York City and recommended that if I could flee the city and retreat to my parents’ house, I should do it, and fast.

I hung up the phone, called my parents, rented a car, packed my bags and drove 13 hours from New York City to the suburbs of Chicago the next morning. Meanwhile, my friends were still going out to dinner and going into work. I could tell my coworkers and roommate thought I was being absurd, but I couldn’t afford to care about their opinions. I had simply fought too hard for all 27 years of my life, I couldn’t lose it here.”

Read the full piece, here.

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