Vaccines, Vaccination and Immunization

Vaccines for Immune Mediated Diseases

Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID) such as RA, IBD or psoriasis, are at increased risk of infection, partially because of the disease itself, but mostly because of treatment with immune-modulatory or immunosuppressive drugs. In spite of their elevated risk for vaccine-preventable disease, vaccination coverage in IMID patients is surprisingly low. Although the reduced quality of the immune response in patients under immunotherapy may have a negative impact on vaccination efficacy in this population, adequate humoral response to vaccination in IMID patients has been demonstrated for Hepatitis B, Influenza and Pneumococcal vaccination.