SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination in dermatology patients on immunomodulatory and biologic agents

Recommendations from the Australasian Medical Dermatology Group

Charlie Wang¹ | Marius Rademaker² | Bruce Tate³ | Christopher Baker^1,4| Peter Foley<sup>1,4

1</sup>Skin Health Institute, Carlton, Victoria, Australia, ²Waikato Clinical Campus, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Hamilton, New Zealand, ³Western Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, and ⁴St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, The University of Melbourne, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia

ABSTRACT

As the phase III COVID-19 vaccine trials excluded patients on immunosuppressive treatments, or patients with significant autoimmunity, the Australasian Medical Dermatology Group make the following preliminary recommendations around COVID-19 vaccination in dermatology patients on immunomodulatory and/or biologic agents.

• Vaccination against COVID-19 is strongly encouraged for all patients on immunomodulatory drugs and/or biologic agents.
• There are currently insufficient data to recommend one COVID-19 vaccine or vaccine type (mRNA, recombinant, inactivated virus) over another.
• No specific additional risk in patients on immunomodulatory or biologic therapies has so far been identified.
• Data on vaccine efficacy in patients on immunomodulatory or biologic therapies are missing, so standard vaccination protocols are recommended until otherwise advised.

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