According to Inserm, about 82,000 people in France suffer from kidney failure, a disease that corresponds to the progressive and irreversible destruction of the kidneys; in 50% of cases, it is the result of the development of diabetes or arterial hypertension. The treatments for kidney failure are dialysis and transplantation (36,433 kidney transplants were performed in 2015 in France).
As Professor François Vrtovsnik, nephrologist at Bichat Hospital and vice-president of the French-speaking Society of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation (SFNDT) explains, if people with kidney disease catch covid-19, these patients run a high risk of developing a serious form, requiring hospitalization or even resuscitation. They also have an increased risk of death. “Already excluding covid, mortality is 3.5 times higher in patients with kidney disease than in the general population” explains the nephrologist. But since the start of the pandemic, 15% of transplant recipients and 16% of dialysis patients have died of covid-19″. Mortality comparable to that of residents in much older nursing homes.
A vaccine a priori safe for patients with kidney failure
Patients with renal insufficiency, dialysis, transplantation, immunosuppression are already made aware of vaccination since they are regularly vaccinated against influenza, hepatitis or pneumococcus. According to Reinomed, which represents private non-profit health institutions specializing in the prevention and treatment of kidney disease, 70% of patients with kidney disease volunteer to be vaccinated against covid-19. Since February, 45% of kidney patients on dialysis have been vaccinated.
Is the Covid-19 vaccine safe for people on dialysis, transplant or kidney failure? As the Renaloo association points out, “only live attenuated vaccines are contraindicated for immunocompromised patients, especially for kidney transplant recipients“. In this case, the vaccines against Covid-19 Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna “are not contraindicated“.
On the side of side effectsfor the moment, all the lights are green: no particular risk of complication, transplant rejection, or interaction with their treatments, has been reported.
Source:
Kidney diseases and Covid-19, patients and healthcare professionals on the front lineReinomed conference, March 4, 2021
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