“Getting the vaccine was the best choice for my personal circumstances,” says Kristen Schlichting, who acknowledges that the level of COVID-19 risk she is exposed to as an eye surgery nurse certainly influenced her decision to get it sooner rather than later.

Rituximab is a biologic medication that treats rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions by depleting B cells, which are an important part of how the immune system responds to vaccines.

Although people who are on immunosuppressant medications were not included in clinical trials for the vaccines, we’re going to have more insights soon about how patients with inflammatory and autoimmune conditions fare after being vaccinated against COVID-19.

“For me, it goes back to trusting science and knowing that this is the only way we’re going to get our life back,” says Brenda Kleinsasser, who lives in the coronavirus hotspot state of North Dakota.