MedPage Today reports that nearly all available vaccines can be given to people with rheumatologic diseases, according to a new, detailed guideline from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), though the timing for their administration and dosing of antirheumatic drugs may need adjustment in some cases.

Only live attenuated-virus vaccines were considered inappropriate for certain patients, namely those taking immunosuppressive drugs that would be risky to withhold, concluded an ACR panel led by Anne R. Bass, MD, rheumatologist at HSS.

The guideline covers vaccines against influenza, pneumococcal infection, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), human papillomavirus (HPV), and more than a dozen other product types. It cannot be called comprehensive, however, because COVID-19 vaccines were excluded. The writing committee explained that "the fast-changing nature of the pandemic and the COVID-19-related literature" made it impossible to provide recommendations that would not quickly be overtaken by new discoveries.

Read the full article at medpagetoday.com.

Additional coverage at the-rheumatologist.org