Many of our patients take medications which suppress their immune systems, such as prednisone, methotrexate, CellCept, Imuran, Cytoxan, cyclosporine-A, Arava, etc. In addition, many of our patients have diseases which place them at increased risk of doing poorly if they get certain infections (such as pneumonia and influenza, also known as the flu). These diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, polymyositis, polymyalgia rheumatica, vasculitis, chronic kidney/heart/lung disease, and diabetes. These patients should be vaccinated regularly to avoid infections. We offer the following vaccinations in our clinic.

This protects people from the most common strains of pneumococcus bacterial infections which are the most common causes of pneumonia. In addition to patients mentioned above, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that everyone aged 65 years of age or older get the shot. This vaccination should be repeated every 3-5 years. More information about pneumococcal vaccination recommendations can be found here.

Influenza (commonly called “the flu”) is a severe viral infection which can cause severe pneumonia. Around 200,000 Americans are hospitalized each year and around 36,000 die due to the flu and its complications. It is recommended that around 75% of Americans should be vaccinated against the flu each year. This should be obtained every Fall (optimally October or November) before the flu season. However, it is still worth it to get the flu shot as late as even early February as the peak of the flu season is January and February. In addition to the patient groups listed above it should be given to everyone aged 50 or above, and 6 - 24 months old. Also, people who live with or care for anyone in these groups (ie. 6 months - 24 months, 50 years old or more, and those between 2 years old and 49 years old with chronic disease) should also be vaccinated to decrease the chances of giving the flu to these persons. More information on influenza vaccinations can be found here.