COVID-19 Vaccines Is it safe to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to patients who have autoimmune disorders? Yes. Administering the COVID-19 vaccine to patients with autoimmune disorders is safe if there are no known contraindications or allergies to the vaccine. However, patients who are receiving Immunomodulatory Therapies need to have a conversation with their treating provider prior to scheduling the first injection of the vaccine. Depending on the treatment, the vaccine administration may need to be scheduled around treatments or certain treatments delayed. This is to allow enough time between treatment and vaccination to avoid interfering with building antibodies from the vaccine. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has developed a guidance document to assist rheumatologists with information regarding the use and timing of the COVID-19 vaccine and providing immunomodulatory therapies to not interfere with the vaccine antibody-building process. If you have patients receiving treatment for autoimmune disorders, encourage them to discuss the best time to receive the vaccine with their treating provider prior to scheduling their first injection. If you are a rheumatologist healthcare provider who administers immunomodulatory therapies, follow the ACR COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Guidance for Rhematic Diseases when assisting patients in the use and timing of vaccination and immunomodulatory therapies. You should also screen patients to see when they had their COVID-19 vaccine injection prior to administering therapies that could interfere with COVID-19 vaccine building of antibodies. News & Knowledge All Curi recommendations are based on current CDC criteria at the time of publication. CDC guidance for SARS-CoV-2 infection may, or may not, be adopted by state and local health departments to respond to rapidly changing local circumstances. Providers should always check with their local health department to see if the CDC’s guidance on any given topic has been modified (particularly if more restrictive) from the CDC’s recommended guidelines. Follow this link https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/healthdirectories/index.html for contact information to your state/local health department. If local recommendations vary from those of the CDC, and you are unsure what recommendations to follow, then it is safer to follow the more restrictive guidelines/recommendations.