Joint and muscle disease drugs may limit vaccine response

Reuters - 31/05/2021  - The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna may be less effective in patients taking immunosuppressant drugs for rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, researchers warn.

"While additional research is required, patients on immunosuppressants should be aware that they may not be fully protected against COVID even after full vaccination. Therefore, patients should talk to their providers before relaxing precautions," said Dr. Julie Paik of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

In an earlier study, her team found that most patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases do respond appropriately to the vaccines. Looking more closely at 20 people whose immune systems did not respond well - that is, no antibodies were detectable after vaccination - the researchers found that most were receiving multiple immunosuppressive agents.

"A unifying factor" among the patients was their use of medications such as rituximab and mycophenolate mofetil that affect lymphocytes, the researchers reported in Annals of Internal Medicine.

"Our study highlights the need for physicians and patients to be aware that immunosuppressants may prevent an appropriate vaccine response against SARS-CoV-2," Paik said.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3fuX7oV Annals of Internal Medicine, online May 24, 2021.

By Reuters Staff



Posted on 31 May 20218 June 2021