4 Fast Facts to Share in Response to These COVID-19 Vaccine Myths About Immunocompromised Patients

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This has been updated as of December 20, 2020.

In light of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines both recently receiving emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CreakyJoints and the Global Healthy Living Foundation have been sharing information about the COVID-19 vaccines for people who are immunocompromised or take immunosuppressant medications, such as disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or biologics.

Many in our patient community have thanked us for providing trusted resources to combat misinformation they are encountering on websites, social media platforms, and in conversations with family and friends.

We created this shorter resource to help you quickly respond and react to concerns you may be hearing and reading. You can help fight misinformation and vaccine hesitancy by sharing this article and our other COVID-19 vaccine resources, such as these:

• What Major Medical Organizations Are Saying About Getting an mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine If You’re Immunocompromised
• Can You Get the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine If You’re Immunocompromised or Have an Autoimmune Condition?
• Can You Get the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine If You’re Immunocompromised or Have an Autoimmune Condition?
• Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine: What to Know If You’re Immunocompromised

Myth: “I keep hearing that immunocompromised people can’t get the vaccine”

Fact: The truth is that the vaccine is not contraindicated in immunocompromised people. You may hear misinformation about this because the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine fact sheets say that certain groups (including pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as those who are immunocompromised) should tell their vaccine provider about these conditions. This does not mean that you cannot get the vaccine. It means that these groups may require special consideration because there is not yet data on them from current clinical trials (more on this below).

Here is a list of major medical organizations explaining that immunocompromised people can get the vaccine when it is available to them.

Myth: “COVID vaccines aren’t safe if you’re immunocompromised because they can make you sick with the virus”

Fact: The front-runner vaccine candidates from Pfizer and Moderna are not live vaccines. (Neither are those from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, which are still in phase 3 clinical trials and have not yet applied for emergency use authorization.) A live vaccine, such as the chickenpox vaccine, is made from a weakened form of the actual virus. These vaccines may not recommended for people on immunosuppressant medications because there’s a chance they could make you sick.

However, these COVID-19 vaccines are not live. They are made from a different type of technology that gives your body the genetic instructions for making the coronavirus spike protein (the spikes protruding from the coronavirus germ) so your immune system learns to recognize it and fight it off. Read more here about how mRNA vaccines (like Pfizer’s and Moderna’s) and viral vector vaccines (like AstraZeneca’s and Johnson & Johnson’s) work differently from other vaccines.

Myth: “Immunocompromised people were not included in the clinical trials, so that means I can’t get the vaccine”

Fact: It’s true that immunocompromised people and those taking immunosuppressants were NOT included in the initial COVID-19 clinical trials. But this is not unusual, and it doesn’t mean you can’t get the vaccine.

Most vaccines do not include these patient populations in phase 3 clinical trials (the last stage before seeking FDA approval) because the goal of these studies is to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective in a large group of healthy adults. Other populations, such as immunocompromised patients, are typically studied in phase 4 (post-marketing) studies that occur after the vaccine has been approved and more is known about their safety and effectiveness.

Because the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines do not contain live virus, there is no reason to think they will be less safe or have more side effects in people who are immunocompromised than in the general population. However, because there is not yet data on these patient groups, you should talk to your doctor if you have questions or concerns about your personal situation.

All of the rheumatologists CreakyJoints and the Global Healthy Living Foundation have spoken with so far plan to recommend that their rheumatic disease patients get the vaccine as soon as it is available to them.

Myth: “The vaccine won’t work well if you’re on immunosuppressants.”

Fact: There is reason to think that the COVID-19 vaccine could be less effective (meaning less likely to prevent getting sick with coronavirus symptoms) if you’re taking immunosuppressant medication. There’s data that shows this is the case with other vaccines, such as flu and pneumonia. However, there’s not yet data to know whether or to what degree this may be the case for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Once there is more data, there are measures people on immunosuppressants can take to increase a vaccine’s effectiveness, such as temporarily withholding immunosuppressant drugs right before and after getting the vaccine, or having a different dosage or booster schedule. It’s too soon to make any of these recommendations without more data, though.

Most important: Even a theoretically less effective vaccine is better than no vaccine for a life-threatening virus like SARS-CoV-2.

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