Thread: Live Vaccines
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Old Mon Jan 23, 2017, 10:27 AM
Neil Cuadra Neil Cuadra is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Los Angeles, California
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Meri,

A similar question was covered some years ago in the newsletter of the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation (AA&MDSIF). In their Fall 2006 issue they said
In general, live vaccines should not be administered to individuals who are immunosuppressed.
Quoting an even earlier newsletter they said
Generally, patients with active disease should not get immunization shots nor flu shots since this may cause worsening of blood counts. Patients should not be exposed to another family member who has received shots for 2-3 weeks if this is practical.
There is information about specific vaccinations in their Fall 2003 newsletter and their November 2007 eBulletin.

An article at UpToDate says
Vaccinations and antibiotics -- Vaccines are especially important for people with MDS. People with MDS are at higher risk of infections than other people, and vaccines help prevent infections. Only some vaccines are safe and appropriate for people with MDS.

People with MDS should have yearly influenza vaccines and a pneumococcal vaccine every five years. In general, people with MDS can get "inactivated vaccines," which are vaccines that contain dead copies of a virus. People with MDS usually should not get "live attenuated vaccines," which are vaccines that contain live but weakened copies of a virus.
If you are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed then it may be worth having the MMRV antibody tests to determine your status, but then talk again with the doctor before getting any vaccinations, to weigh that risk against the risk of not being vaccinated.
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