Parent with AA and wanting to immunize children

[TASHMAC]

I have 2 children aged 4 and 2 and have been told that given I am immunosuppressed (currently taking 200mg daily of cyclosporine) that my children should not receive any live immunizations. My counts are all normal.

My 2 year is due for chicken pox and my 4 year for Measles Mumps + Rubella and also chicken pox booster. Has anyone received advice regarding this?

[Neil Cuadra]

The answer for Measles-mumps-rubella

The best source I know is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Their Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) says:

Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is not contraindicated for the close contacts of immunocompromised persons.

The answer for varicella (chicken pox)

In the same report, ACIP advises against giving certain other vaccines (e.g., the polio vaccine and the live flu virus) to someone in close contact with an immunocompromised patient, which implies that they think it's safe to give the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine to people in close contact with immunocompromised patients. But they don't explicitly say so.

Luckily, we can find the answer elsewhere...

The CDC's General Recommendations on Immunization (part of the so-called Pink Book) explicitly states that

MMR, varicella, rotavirus, and LAIV vaccines may be given when an immunosuppressed person lives in the same house.

There's further confirmation in the CDC's Guide to Vaccine Contraindications and Precautions, which on Page 4 indicates that the varicella immunization is safe to give someone in close contact with an immunocompromised patient.


I suggest double-checking by phoning your hematologist's office. I remember asking my wife's hematologist about who in the family should get flu shots when she was on immunosuppressants (answer: everyone but my wife). That's the advice we had already heard, but getting direct approval from the doctor was reassuring.

[TASHMAC]

Neil as always thanks for your quick reply. I had also come across this information but given my doctors at Cleveland Clinic have said no was curious as to whether any AA patients had received similar advice.

Thanks again.

[Meri T.]

Need to clear something, please help:

I have an important medical check tomorrow, and will need to get live vaccines, namely measles, mumps, rubella and varicella if I can't produce records that I have had them (and I don't have ANY immunization records).
I can choose to do antibody tests for MMRV, but if any comes out negative, I will need to be vaccinated.

I read all over the net that MDS patients should not get live vaccines. However, my hematologist gave me a "Medical Report" for the medical check tomorrow, and in there he stated "Getting live vaccination is acceptable in the current medical status".

What the ...!? So I'm in a bind here. I want to get a waiver for the shots tomorrow, but my doctor hasn't given me a get out of jail card, but just the opposite.

Most of the threads in this forum deal with getting shots after a STC. Has anyone out their got their shots before? Or during treatment?
Any suggestions?
Meri