Patients with chronic illnesses are worried about Covid-19 vaccines. Thus, in a survey published in April 2021, 62% of chronic patients admitted to “being afraid” of their adverse effects, and 76% feared the possible consequences of vaccines on the evolution of their pathology.
Good news: theEuropean Alliance of Rheumatology Associations (EULAR) has just published reassuring work on the vaccination of patients with inflammatory rheumatism and systemic autoimmune diseases.
Experts studied medical data regarding the anti-Covid-19 vaccination of 5,121 patients with chronic diseases in 30 countries. They suffered in particular from rheumatoid arthritis (33%), connectivitis (18%), spondyloarthritis (11%), psoriatic arthritis (10%) and vasculitis (12%).
“Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is safe” for the chronically ill
Good news: according to specialists, if adverse effects were observed in 37% of patients, these are comparable to “those observed in the general population“. Severe adverse effects were observed in 0.4% of patients followed. This rate is not different in the general population, specify the experts.
After vaccination, 4.4% of patients with chronic diseases experienced rheumatic attacks; among them, 0.6% were severe flare-ups and 1.5% led to an adaptation of the drug treatment. For the experts, this risk of rheumatic attack is therefore “very weak“and cannot be associated with certainty with the anti-Covid-19 vaccination.
Conclusion ? For Pr. Xavier Mariette, head of the rheumatology department at Bicêtre Hospital and main coordinator of this work, “vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is safe in patients with inflammatory rheumatism and systemic autoimmune diseases“. Reassuring!
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