New discoveries to improve the efficacy of the puncture against SARS-COV2 in people with autoimmune diseases. In Spain, and according to the indications of the Government itself, all of them should receive the vaccine unless it is contraindicated, since they may have an increased risk of suffering from severe COVID-19, without interrupting their treatment.
Nevertheless, temporarily halting medication intake could greatly improve the effectiveness of the COVID vaccine. This is the finding of a new clinical trial conducted by the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.
According to their conclusions, Millions of people on immunosuppressive therapy would benefit from stopping their medication immediately after injection. The academic consortium put the magnifying glass on methotrexate, the most widely prescribed drug in the world for inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.
The study, a pioneer in its field, investigated the temporary pause in taking the drug for 15 days after receiving the third dose of the coronavirus vaccineand how it can improve the immune response against infection.
Twice as many protective antibodies among those who paused the medication compared to the control group
“The main message is that treatment interruption for two weeks after booster vaccination with Covid-19 doubles the immune response at week four and at week 12 produces a sustained improvement of the immune response,” explains Professor Abhishek. Abhishek of the University of Nottingham.
The study, which has been published in the magazine Lancet Respiratory Medicine, reveals the twice as many protective antibodies in people who temporarily stopped taking methotrexate after vaccination than in the control group, which continued with the treatment.
Although the study found some increase in inflammatory disease 4 weeks after stopping treatment, this deterioration had disappeared by 12 weeks. “We did not see any adverse impact on patients’ quality of life after discontinuation of their medication,” the authors note.
In this way, this guideline could improve needlestick protection against coronavirus for millions of people living with autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or psoriasis.
This is the first essay that gives answers, comparing the benefit of the vaccine when stopping the medication against the risk of recrudescence of the patient’s disease with autoimmune disease.
To date, and due to the lack of scientific literature and clinical trials in this regard, medical authorities have provided conflicting and irregular recommendations. In the UK itself, doctors have prescribed continuing methotrexate after vaccination. With these results on the table, the pattern could change.
Of course, not all conditions would allow even a brief interruption of methotrexate. Secondlypatients taking other anti-inflammatory drugs could also benefit from the discoverys, which in turn would require other clinical tests collected separately.
For the fourth dose of the vaccine, these data may be taken into account by the health authorities.
–
