The following list also summarizes the recommendations:
- Patients with IBD should be vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of concurrent therapies.
- Patients with IBD are not at increased risk of severe COVID-19.
- Patients with IBD, including those on immune-modifying therapies, mount a humoral immune response to the vaccine.
- Patients with IBD on immune-modifying therapies, who received either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, should receive a three-dose vaccination series, with the third dose at least 28 days after the second dose.
- Patients with IBD on biologic therapy can receive the third dose of the vaccine at any time point and should not interrupt biologic therapy.
- Boosters are likely to become available to the general public in September and would be given at least 8 months after an individual’s second dose.
- Recommendations regarding boosters for those who received a three-dose vaccination series are forthcoming.
- Recommendations regarding boosters and additional doses for those that received the Janssen vaccine are forthcoming.
- Gastroenterologists should take an active role in ensuring that their patients are vaccinated.
Dr. Schell is a second-year graduate student in the division of internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Caldera is an associate professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology & hepatology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Schell has no conflicts of interest to disclose. Dr. Caldera has received research support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi. He has been a consultant for Takeda, Arena Pharmaceuticals, GSK, and Celgene.
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