I’m sorry I don’t know how to copy a link, but what I took from the article was that a systemic drug like prednisone suppressed immunity more than drugs like Remicade. Not sure if I’m drawing the right conclusion here.
Has anyone read the article?
It sounds worrying.
It’s long been recognised that those taking immune-suppressive drugs do not get as good a protection from the COVID vaccine as those not taking them - but they still get some. This link discusses the subject....
healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...
Have you not read my posts about the vaccine and us? There has been a fair bit of discussion on the forum already. I can't find an article dated today - do you mean this one from last week?
"Vaccines Won’t Protect Millions of Patients With Weakened Immune Systems
Many cannot produce enough infection-fighting cells to fend off the coronavirus. But researchers are testing one therapy that may help: monoclonal antibodies."
The evidence is still sketchy because it takes time to collect but it does seem that patients on steroids may not develop the same level of immunity as the ideals found in the clinical trials on healthy subjects. This is not unexpected and it was said initially that we should continue to take precautions until after the second dose of vaccine AND until they had got results from a large cohort of patients with a/i disorders in general and various medications in particular. That is still being collected but one study has shown there is reduced production of antibodies in patients on corticosteroids. Not necessarily none, but less. The doctor in the article is a different case - effectively he has almost no immune system because of his medical history.
However they may have been presented in the general media, the vaccines are not a magic gold, get out of jail free card. They are part of a process to reduce the amount of virus circulating in the population - but until some 80% of the population is vaccinated there is still a great need for the distancing and mask/hygiene measures to be continued. In view of the development of mutations - always to be expected and normal with any virus - the protection afforded by the vaccine remains unclear and is something to be concerned about, vaccinated or not.
The protection afforded by distancing remains much the same as pre-vaccine - and it does work when practised properly. Once there is less virus circulating, there is less likelihood of meeting it when out and about and that increases the level of safety incrementally. And actually, as is mentioned in that article, there is a further benefit of us continuing to be ulta-careful because the development of mutations is more likely in people with deranged immune systems - the fewer immunocompromised people catch it, the less likely it is that a more infectious version of the virus will develop.
But the article also says - get vaccinated, preferably at the recommended interval, and you are most likely to get some protection, I haven't changed the habits that have been successful for the last year - and I won't change them soon.
"I haven't changed the habits that have been successful for the last year - and I won;t change them soon".
Me neither and I am still in remission.. and very wary.
14 months yesterday I had my first lovely socially, masked etc to a garden centre & farm shop, who have turned one of their big strawberry fields, into a great space, with bench tables more than 3 metres away from each other.
One way system with arrows into the shop and stand in the space till the next person moves.
Closed their inside cafe and outside a shed with barbecue cooking, sandwiches, cake etc all made on the premises.
If I don't get out for a long while again, I have a new happy memory.
Where was it? I never think of straws in your neck of the woods!!!
Not only straws, they do rasps, blacks and veggies.
On the way to Corbridge - not far from the first Licensed Pub in Northumberland.
brocksbushes.co.uk click on the link and take a look at the photos.
I actually bought Beetroot with the stalks attached and boiled it when I got home and had a hot beetroot sandwich. Apart from other veggies with muck on them. Happy day.
I think it is important we get vaccinated. It is also important that the media be aware of the issues around the immunocompromised and bring them to the attention of the general public, not so much to worry people like us, but to inform the general public about the fact that the vaccines are not a magic bullet which will eliminate the pandemic. It helps clarify what Public Health has been trying to pound into the heads of everyone for over a year, that all the other methods we use to slow down and prevent transmission will remain important until covid becomes no more of a problem than many other communicable diseases we now co-exist with, because mass vaccination allows even the vulnerable to be protected.
Anything I read {or read} in NYT is suspect! Try reading Alex Berensons take on this subject...He is a Former NYT real journalist. MJM
Thinking about this, I've just read an article in The Atlantic which examines as part of another discussion what happens in various countries with their differing levels of vaccination. In Canada the hospitalization rate has increased exponentially, although vaccinations are, finally, proceeding apace. One could look at that and consider that vaccination is not working. However, hospitalizations have plummeted amongst the elderly who were the first to be vaccinated. The cases are now coming from workplace exposure where younger individuals have not yet been vaccinated, and from neighbourhoods where people live in circumstances where they cannot avoid exposure. As many elderly are, simply on the basis of age, more likely to have poorer immune responses I'd say this is another level of proof that vaccines protect us. During the first wave Canada achieved the dubious distinction of being the country with the worst record for deaths among the elderly.
Here's the article, it's quite interesting:
Thanks for making clear the difference
Impact of covid pandemic on rheumatology patients and clinicians - latest articleMore about Petros and CovidSome up-to-date information about the Covid vaccine for patients with autoimmune diseases 
Interesting article about evolution of humans and autoimmune diseasesWhat might underlie developing an autoimmune disorder? Interesting article in the Guardian today.
