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How safe and immunogenic is the Moderna vaccine in people with rheumatic diseases?
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Scientific Study Title:
COVID-19 Vaccine in Immunosuppressed Adults with Autoimmune Diseases
Start Date:
  • 2021
End Date:
  • 2022
Research Category
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Inés Colmegna, Research Team Member, Arthritis Research Canada
Inés Colmegna
Research Scientist, Rheumatology, MD

Why did we do this research?

Reason For Research

People with autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus are at higher risk for severe infections. The immune systems of these patients are often suppressed due to their disease or its treatments, which could also impact how well vaccines work. Since the initial vaccine trials had excluded immunosuppressed patients, we evaluated the safety and immunogenicity (ability to generate anti-Covid antibodies) of the Moderna Spikevax vaccine in these patients. These were key questions for which there were no data at the time the study was designed.

 

 

What did we do?

Execution of Research

We conducted a year-long study involving 220 participants, including adults with:

  • Rheumatoid arthritis (131 patients),
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus (23 patients),
  • other rheumatic diseases using prednisone (8 patients), and
  • healthy controls (58 people)

Participants received three doses of the Moderna Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine. We conducted evaluations on safety, generation of antibodies in response to vaccines, and COVID-19 infection rates. We compared these results between the rheumatic disease groups and the healthy controls, looking at:

  • self-reported adverse events,
  • levels of anti-Spike antibodies,
  • cellular immune responses to Spikevax, and
  • reported COVID-19 infections.

 

 

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