Study finds holding methotrexate for one week after flu vaccine may be as effective as a two-week hold

Medical Xpress / American College of Rheumatology / ACR Convergence 2022 Annual Meeting ^ | Nov. 8, 2022 | Jin Kyun Park, MD et al

[ConservativeMind]

New research showed that discontinuing methotrexate for one week after seasonal influenza vaccination provided the same seroprotection as a two-week discontinuation period in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Methotrexate (MTX) remains a first-line therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) due to its efficacy, favorable safety profile and cost. Yet it significantly reduces response to pneumococcal and seasonal influenza vaccines, especially novel strain antigens. Previous research showed that withholding MTX for two weeks after patients received the seasonal flu vaccine improved immunogenicity. This study aimed to determine whether a one-week hold of MTX was equally effective in terms of immediate and long-term vaccine response.

Jin Kyun Park, MD says the main reason for undertaking the trial was to determine whether the time without MTX could be minimized to reduce the likelihood of disease flares.

The primary outcome was a positive response at four weeks post vaccination, defined as a four-fold or greater increase in antibody titers against at least two of the vaccine strains. Secondary outcomes were positive response and antibody titers at four- and 16-weeks post vaccination.

The proportion of patients achieving satisfactory vaccine responses were similar in the one- and two-week groups at four weeks and 16 weeks (69% versus 75% and 69.6% versus 70.3%, respectively). The vaccine responses in the RA patients and controls were also similar.

"Patients and physicians alike do not often know what to do with methotrexate when a vaccination, including the annual flu vaccine or novel COVID-19 vaccines, is required. It was relieving to find out that skipping methotrexate for one week is as effective as skipping it for two weeks to improve vaccine response with no increase in disease flare risk," Dr. Park says. "But it is not clear yet whether skipping methotrexate for one week improves response to other vaccines."

[ConservativeMind]

You don’t need to stop your medicine for so long, any more, to have your vaccine still work.

[ConservativeMind]

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[cranked]

[Red Badger]

I don’t have to swallow it, just hold it?...............

[upchuck]

Another drug that will be banned by the FDA. Just like they banned Ivermectin and HCQ. (Both work extremely well and have been in use for years.)

Nothing will stop “the jab or nothing” mentality of these bureaucratic idiots.