Autoimmune diseases and drugs used in their therapy affect the functioning of the immune system. This affects the effectiveness of preventive vaccinations, e.g. against COVID-19. The latest research in this area is an important guide for patients in this group on how to approach protection against coronavirus infection.
- The results of a German study, published in “The Lancet Rheumatology”, show that side effects after vaccination against COVID-19 in people with autoimmune diseases were not more common than in healthy people
- There was also no difference in the effectiveness of the vaccines – the amount of antibodies rose in these patients as well as in other study participants
- There was, however, one difference. It concerned the protection provided by the primary vaccination course in the long term
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What are autoimmune diseases?
Autoimmune diseases are a type of disease that causes chronic inflammation in the body. The immune system treats its own cells as foreign and attacks them. It causes inflammation (usually of a specific organ), which affects the work of other systems.
The most common autoimmune diseases include:
- diabetes
- Hashimoto’s disease,
- rheumatoid arthritis,
- ulcerative colitis,
- Crohn’s disease,
- multiple sclerosis,
- psoriasis,
- lupus erythematosus.
Treatment of diseases of this type is most often based on pharmacotherapy, and drugs are taken throughout life. According to experts, both the disease itself and the therapy affect the functioning of the immune system, and thus its reactions to immunization, including COVID-19.
Autoimmune disease and COVID-19 vaccination
The extent of the impact was recently investigated by scientists from the Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie (DZI) at the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen (Germany). Over 3,7 thousand people participated in the study. patients with one of the autoimmune diseases and healthy participants who received two or three doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
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The findings, published in The Lancet Rheumatology, show that most of the people who received the vaccine did not report any significant side effects. There was no difference between healthy and sick participants in this regard. What’s more, people with autoimmune diseases developed antibodies to a similar degree and rate as other people.
However, scientists noted one difference. It turned out that people with autoimmune diseases show a slightly weaker immune response after two coronavirus vaccinations (i.e. after the so-called basic cycle), and their vaccine protection weakens faster than in the control group. This tendency was more common in older patients.
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Researchers write primarily about the impact on the immune system of drugs taken by patients. “Certain drugs that target specific immune cells, such as T and B cells, appear to reduce the effectiveness of the short and long term immune responses,” added Dr. Koray Tascilar, co-author of the study.
The article also emphasizes that all of these In patients, antibody levels rose markedly after the booster dose. Scientists suggest that people with autoimmune diseases could come to a booster earlier than others – precisely because protection against COVID-19 is declining faster.