SARS-CoV-2 infection after vaccination in patients with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (iRMDs) are often treated with immunomodulatory or immunosuppressive medications; consequently, they have been excluded alongside other immunocompromised patients from late stages of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials. SARS-CoV-2 vaccine efficacy in this population is unclear, though initial data are reassuring overall.

However, a slightly lower SARS-CoV-2 immunogenicity of vaccines has been documented in some patients with iRMD. Some common rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease (RMD) medications have been highlighted as possible influential factors on immunogenicity, particularly rituximab (RTX), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), methotrexate (MTX), abatacept and glucocorticoids.

Author list

Saskia Lawson-Tovey, Kimme L Hyrich, Laure Gossec, Anja Strangfeld, Loreto Carmona, Bernd Raffeiner, Gözde Kübra Yardımcı, Ludovic Trefond, Nicolas Roux, Ana Rodrigues, Charalampos Papagoras, Elsa F Mateus, Xavier Mariette, Pedro M Machado

Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221217

BMJ - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases