Live vaccinations and immunocompromised patients

How can GPs ensure this cohort is safely protected against disease?
Associate Professor Peter Wong Associate Professor Douglas Johnson
vaccination

For many years, immunosuppression to treat autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases has comprised corticosteroids and conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) such as methotrexate and sulfasalazine.

Treatment of these conditions has been revolutionised by the introduction of biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) such as etanercept or rituximab, which target pro-inflammatory cytokines or cell types, respectively, and more recently, oral targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs) such as tofacitinib and baricitinib (see table 1).