Can I get a live vaccine even if I have an autoimmune disease (rheumatoid arthritis)? What about the COVID-19 vaccine?

65-year-old woman3 years ago
Do you know if the vaccine that will be distributed in Canada is one? The role of the vaccine is to make the immune system recognize the covid if it is in contact with it....but what happens when you don't have an immune system? I'm quite worried about all this...a big thank you to you for answering me!
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Alexandre Chagnon · 3 years ago
Hello Ma'am, that's a great question!
First of all, mRNA-based vaccines (such as the one made available by Pfizer) are a whole new type of vaccine. So instead of using a weakened or inactivated virus or even part of a virus to trigger an immune response inside our body, Pfizer's Covdi-19 vaccine will simply teach our cells how to make specific antibodies, through the manufacture of a certain protein. These antibodies will then be ready to fight infection if the virus enters our body.
As for your health condition, since the vaccine is still very new on the market, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization is not recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for populations that have been excluded from clinical trials at this time, until further evidence is available.
However, if following an evaluation, it is determined that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the potential risks to the individual (e.g, risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and severe outcome of COVID-19 are high) and if there is informed consent from the patient (discussion of insufficient evidence in this population with their health care provider), then the vaccine may be offered to individuals in the following populations:
  • immunocompromised individuals due to disease or treatment or with an autoimmune disorder
  • pregnant or breastfeeding women
  • adolescents 12-15 years of age
I hope I have answered your question.
Maeva Di-Ré, Pharmacy Student
Supervised by Alexandre Chagnon, Pharmacist
65-year-old woman · 3 years ago
A big thank you to you for your answer. It enlightens me, but at the same time it doesn't reassure me, in the sense that it may take a long time before we are certain that this vaccine will not cause more harm than good to defenseless populations.
We are many with autoimmune diseases, we are in part the most at risk and we are the ones who will not have access to the benefit of the vaccine when it is in Quebec. When ideally, we should have been the first ones protected. When we have no immune system, our chances of fighting a virus are almost nil. We risk living for a long time in fear of being contaminated. Unfortunately....Another question, are you aware if the pharmaceutical companies, during the distrubition of the vaccines to know if they continue or at least do they try to make clinical trials for the immuno or others so that we have our answer as soon as possible.....A worried who doesn't want to die from this...lol
Alexandre Chagnon · 3 years ago
Yes, we know that the companies in charge of making COVID19 vaccines are vaccinating people in the study who were excluded in the first phases, right now.
The other thing to consider is that it won't be very long before other companies come out with vaccines that will not have the same "target populations". I'm thinking of Moderna or Astra-Zeneca, among others, which have received regulatory approval (the equivalent of Health Canada) in other countries.
Don't give up, it's coming!
Alexandre Chagnon, pharmacist

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