You may have heard recently that the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has recommended that some people obtain a 3rd dose of COVID vaccine. These are people whose immune systems do not work as well and who will benefit from a “booster” dose.
If you have one of these health issues or are taking any of these treatments, please contact the clinic to learn what is needed to obtain a booster dose of vaccine.
If you currently:
- Are doing active treatment for solid tumour or hematologic (blood) cancer (eg chemotherapy)
- Have had a solid-organ transplant and you are taking medication which suppresses your immune system
- Are receiving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplant (within 2 years of transplantation or taking immunosuppression therapy)
- Have a moderate to severe primary immunodeficiency (e.g., DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)
- Have stage 3 or advanced untreated HIV infection or another acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
- Are doing active treatment with the following categories of immunosuppressive therapies:
- anti-B cell therapies (monoclonal antibodies targeting CD19, CD20 and CD22)
- long term high-dose systemic corticosteroid treatment (prednisone equivalent of ≥ 2 mg/kg/day or 20 mg/day if weight > 10 kg, for ≥ 14 days),
- alkylating agents
- antimetabolites
- tumor-necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors and other biologic agents that are significantly immunosuppressive
In general, if a patient is 3 months post-chemotherapy and the cancer is in remission, or if immunosuppression has been discontinued for at least 3 months (6 months or more for anti-B cell antibodies), the person is no longer considered immunocompromised. If you have questions about your immune status or class of medications, please speak to your specialist physician if you have one.
