COVID-19 Vaccine in Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) Patients
It is the APS Foundation of America, Inc Medical Advisors recommendation that every APS patient should get vaccinated for COVID-19. The potential negative health effects of COVID-19 infection are much worse than the extremely rare possible serious side effects of the vaccine (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect/after.html).
COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history. The Johns Hopkins website shows that as of today (roughly 9 months after COVID-19 vaccinations started) over 8.9 billion COVID vaccine doses worldwide have been administered. The data accumulated in such a short time is unprecedented. For comparison, the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine was licensed in 1971 and by 2001 there had been 500 million doses given.
While we understand that you are concerned about clotting with the COVID-19 vaccine, the blood clot risk is extremely rare; and there are no data to support that APS patients are at higher risk for vaccine-related blood clots compared to general population. Furthermore, many APS patients are already on blood thinners.
We encourage you to read the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Guidance Summary for Patients with Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases published by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) at https://www.rheumatology.org/Portals/0/Files/COVID-19-Vaccine-Clinical-Guidance-Rheumatic-Diseases-Summary.pdf as well as the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) View-points on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with Rheumatic Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMDs) at https://www.eular.org/eular_sars_cov_2_vaccination_rmd_patients.cfm.
As always, we suggest you discuss this with your personal health care team.
In health,
Doruk Erkan, MD, MPH
Jason Knight, MD, PhD
Keith McCrae, MD
Barry Myones, MD
Tom Ortel, MD, PhD
Christopher Repetsky, MD
Michael Lockshin, MD
Robert A S Roubey, MD
Our Mission
Founded in 2005, the APS Foundation of America, Inc. is dedicated to fostering and facilitating joint efforts in the areas of education, public awareness, research, and patient services for Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) in an effective and ethical manner.
Information Sheets
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