The rapid development of effective vaccines for the COVID-19 virus has been nothing short of a revelation, with vaccines like Pfizer achieving 95% efficacy. While these are impressive numbers, there are some medications that may affect the efficacy of the vaccines and limit the vaccines from protecting us from the COVID-19 virus. Therefore, we need to understand what these medications are to ensure that the vaccines can be administered most effectively. First, let’s understand how vaccines work.
How do vaccines work?
When a pathogen invades our body, our defence system recognises that a foreign substance has entered and responds by producing antibodies to fight the pathogen. Let’s say that antibodies are like soldiers in your body’s defense system. Each antibody, or soldier, is trained to recognise a specific antigen. When the human body is exposed to a completely new antigen, it takes time for the immune system to respond and produce new antibodies specific to that antigen. Therefore, while waiting for the immune system to develop the antibodies to fight the antigen, the person is susceptible to falling ill. Once the body is able to create the antibodies to fight the antigen, we will recover from the illness. From then on, any time that specific antigen enters our body again, our immune system will be better prepared to respond as it already knows what antibodies to produce to fight the antigen. That is the idea behind how vaccines work. Vaccines introduce tiny weakened non-dangerous fragments of the pathogen into our body, prompting our immune system to respond in the same way described above without the adverse effects of the virus. If the body ever encounters the real pathogen after, our immune system would already be equipped with the antibodies to fight the disease, and will protect us from the pathogens.
Now that we have understood how vaccines work, we move on to identifying the types of medication that may cause the vaccines to be less effective.
So what are these medications?
One such medication is immunosuppressive medications. Immunosuppressive medications treat overactive immune reaction such as autoimmune diseases, by suppressing and weakening our immune system. According to rheumatologists at Michigan Medicine, immunosuppressive medications may cause our immune system to lose its ability to recognise and fight against pathogens, which can increase people’s risk of infection. It also reduces the immune system’s ability to mount a response to the COVID-19 vaccines, thus losing its efficacy. Examples of said medication would be chemotherapy used in treating cancer as well as steroids like prednisone and dexamethasone. Patients receiving organ transplant also take immuno-suppression medications to prevent the immune system from attacking the transplanted organ.
How can we prevent this?
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Pause medication around the time of vaccination
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Complete the COVID-19 vaccine series at least 2 weeks before starting these medications (if there is flexibility in the timing of immunosuppressive drugs therapy)
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If not possible, speak with your personal physician about the benefits versus risks of delaying therapy
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Tailor the timing of immune-suppressing medications subject to individual needs
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For example, if someone is on chemotherapy to treat an active cancer, the risk of temporarily stopping that treatment is much different than the risk of stopping a medication that someone’s been on for 10 years to treat their stable rheumatoid arthritis
Should people taking these medications receive COVID-19 vaccines?
People on immunosuppressive therapies can and should get vaccinated. Although the protective effect may vary depending on the underlying condition or the immunosuppressive therapy, most people will get some protection from the vaccine. Getting vaccinated can reduce the chance that they become infected or develop severe illness if infected. However, since the vaccine effectiveness may be reduced as a result of immunosuppresants, it is recommended that people who are immunocompromised continue to exercise precautions to minimise their exposure to SARS-CoV-2, such as mask-wearing, handwashing, physical distancing, and limiting contact with other people.
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References:
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/these-prescription-drugs-may-reduce-efficacy-of-covid-19-vaccines#What-drugs-can-suppress-the-immune-system?
