Fourth vaccine injection recommended for immunocompromised people | News, Sports, Jobs

TIM VANDENACK, Standard-Examiner

Anyone with a compromised immune system should get their fourth vaccine dose against COVID-19 at least three months after receiving their third shot, according to a Utah doctor.

Dr. Hannah Imlay, a University of Utah Health physician and assistant professor of infectious diseases at the U of U School of Medicine, said Wednesday during a news conference that immunocompromised people are at a higher risk of becoming severely sick, being hospitalized or even dying from COVID-19. These include people receiving chemotherapy for cancer, organ and stem cell transplant recipients, and those with auto-immune diseases who are being treated with medications that suppress the immune system.

“Because you need an immune system to respond to the vaccine, any deficit in that immune system can make the response to any vaccine less than what we want,” Imlay said. “This is a very vulnerable group of people and we found they just did not respond to their primary series of vaccines as well as people without all of those things.”

Imlay said immunocompromised who people received a full dose of three vaccines should not consider their third vaccine dose as a booster. The fourth dose, considered to be the group’s booster, will have a smaller amount of vaccine. Whether a fifth dose will be needed in the future will depend on the impact the omicron variant has on immunocompromised patients.

Imlay said right now, the general population, including elderly people who do not have a compromised immune system, do not yet qualify for a fourth dose.

Image supplied, University of Utah Health

“If you have medical conditions but none of them affect your immune system, you probably have had a good immune response to the vaccine,” she said. “Even with waning antibody responses and waning responses to symptomatic infection, your response to vaccine is probably up there with the general population.”

Imlay said a prescription or referral from a doctor is not needed to get the booster. She said they are available at the U of U and most commercial pharmacies across the state.

“I would recommend everybody, whether you are immunocompromised, immunocompetent or somewhere in between, to take advantage of all of the preventative therapies,” she said.

Imlay also encouraged the general population to continue to respect and protect those who are more vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19.

“Again, this is truly a vulnerable population out in our community. I’ve heard estimates of about 10% of the population,” she said. “That adds up to tens of thousands of people in Utah. They are working and going to school, they are physicians, students, teachers, children just like the rest of us. It’s pretty common to have somebody in your life who has an immunocompromised situation.”

But they need protection from the rest of our actions, Imlay said.

“Get vaccinated and wear a high-grade fitted mask, at least an N95. We know these really helped decrease both the incidence of SARS-C0V-2 in our community and also the number of patients who are getting severely sick or dying and leaving our community too soon.”

She said those in the most vulnerable population should also continue wearing quality masks, social distancing and avoiding large crowds. She also suggests this group of people ask their doctors about preventative medications being dispensed throughout the state.

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