Rituximab and the new Covid vaccine

[John S]

I had my latest Rituxin infusion at the end of September and I’m wondering when I should get a flu shot and the new Covid vaccine. Any suggestions?

[Pete]

Talk to your wegs doctor, but I expect that you won’t get these vaccinations until sometime around Christmas. I was told to get my vaccinations at least a month before the infusion.

[John S]

Talk to your wegs doctor, but I expect that you won’t get these vaccinations until sometime around Christmas. I was told to get my vaccinations at least a month before the infusion.

That’s what I was thinking.

[drz]

I had my latest Rituxin infusion at the end of September and I’m wondering when I should get a flu shot and the new Covid vaccine. Any suggestions?

If your immune system is very suppressed you might not have any reaction to the vaccination except a prick in the arm. So then you derive no benefit from the vaccination. The risk is though on the other hand your immune system could over react and cause a major or minor flare of your GPA or any other autoimmune disorder that was contained with fair remission.

i was told by my physicians years ago that as I age and my immune system declines further the chances of benefit from flu shot decrease. But until I have a bad reaction it was worth doing since there was some chance it might benefit me. But once I had a bad reaction to the flu shot and there was a risk of down side I should stop getting them.

I had a major flare after my second Covid vaccination that did a lot of lung damage and ended my daily walks outside since I can barely walk a shot distance now and am always shot of breath. At age 80 with bad immune system I doubt the flu shot will do me much good and my physician did not recommend it for me.