People taking immunosupressive drugs are concerned that Covid-19 vaccines may be ineffective

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Sat, 2021-06-05 14:20 — mike kraft

Caught in a 'pickle,' millions of Americans might not have had an adequate response to the Covid-19 vaccine Millions of Americans are taking immunosuppressive drugs that might weaken the effect of the Covid-19 vaccine, and they find themselves in uncharted territory, scared that their vaccinations might not have worked. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent CNN

(CNN) It was a beautiful March afternoon, and as June Tatelman walked her dog in her Boston neighborhood, she was flying high.

Tatelman had recently received her second dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, and the end of the pandemic was finally in sight. Maybe soon she could play with her grandchildren and return to her volunteer work helping children in foster care. Maybe in a few months, when her husband turned 75, they could go out to a restaurant to celebrate.

As she walked, she ran into her family physician -- who killed her buzz very quickly.

To treat inflamed blood vessels in her lungs, Tatelman, 73, takes a drug that suppresses her immune system. Her doctor had been reading recent medical studies suggesting the vaccine might not work well for some people taking medications like hers.

He asked her to get a blood test to see if the vaccine had worked -- if she had antibodies against the virus.

She did the test and had no detectable antibodies against Covid-19.

...

Millions of other Americans are also taking immunosuppressive drugs that might weaken the effect of the Covid-19 vaccine, and they find themselves in uncharted territory, scared -- with good reason -- that their vaccinations might not have worked.

If their vaccinations did not work, they rely on the rest of the population to get vaccinated.

This should inspire people who have not been vaccinated to roll up their sleeves, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told CNN Thursday.

Vaccines never tested in people with immune deficiencies

While there's no clear number of how many Americans are taking medications that might prove to be a challenge for the Covid-19 vaccine, a new study can help give an estimate. In a paper published last month, Dr. Beth Wallace, a rheumatologist and her team at the University of Michigan, looked at a database of more than 3 million Americans to see how many took immunosuppressants.

Based on that data, Wallace estimates that about 6 million Americans are taking immunosuppressants that could interfere with the vaccine. ...

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