AA and COVID Vaccine

[DaughterL]

Hello all,

My dad was diagnosed with SAA in early 2018.

Since that time, he has gone through two rounds of ATG (horse, than rabbit) - one in 2018 and one in 2019, both with moderate success following treatment.

Over the past three years we have gone through periods where he has been doing well and others when he is not doing so well. A difficult family has not helped (stress), as well as him not always taking his cyclosporine medication properly (particularly at night when he has trouble sleeping).

Over the past two months his blood counts have been dropping, with particularly low platelets. He also has type 2 diabetes, although recent dietary adjustments have really helped get that in check.

His doctors do not want him to take the COVID vaccine because of his low blood counts.

I am interested to know whether any AA patients have gotten the vaccine and how it went, noting the severity of your disease.

Appreciate the feedback.

[Marlene]

John just got his first shot this past Friday and so far, is doing well. Other than a sore arm for two days and a bit tired the first day. This April will be 19 years since he was diagnosed. He is not on any immunosuppressive medicines and his white count has remained stable in the normal range. His red cells and platelet remain below normal but in a very livable range. So he's in a partial stable remission and age is his only risk factor for getting a severe bout of COVID.

There is always a risk that the vaccine could effect his counts but I'm sure the virus could have more of an impact on them as well as other issues.

It would be helpful to understand what their concerns are regarding his low counts. For example: Are his platelets so low that he's at risk for bleeding? Is his white count so low that they think he wouldn't have a response? Or are they concerned that it will trigger a relapse? Or are they planning to start a new treatment for his falling counts? They need to be more specific than "just low counts"

You may want to take a look at this to see if it helps:

https://www.hematology.org/covid-19/...plastic-anemia

[Hopeful]

There is an excellent webinar that was recently sponsored by AAMDSIF. It discusses the latest recommendations for bone marrow failure patients concerning the COVID vaccine.

https://www.aamds.org/webinar/covid-...b-8b543d20fc13