Getting vaccines while on budesonide

[MomLady]

Hey there,

I am wondering how efficacious it is to get a vaccine (for flu, or later, a J&J booster as I had one in March) while still on budesonide? I started at 9 mg in July, and have been slowly tapering ever since, now on one 3mg pill every other day. My GI doc still hasn't replied to my query on this yet and it's been 10 days or so. I understand that budesonide is considered an immune suppressant, and am not sure how well a vaccine would work for me at this point. I've managed to keep pretty good GI shape during this taper, which is a minor miracle with some major stressors in my life right now. Yet I find myself wanting to finish up the budesonide now so I can get on with a Covid booster, and a flu shot besides.

thanks,
Janet

[tex]

Hi Janet,

Your G.I. doctor may not know what to say, because these are uncharted waters. I'm not a doctor though, so I'm not bound by medical policies, and I'm free to look at the facts and state my own opinion. If you had been taking budesonide for a year or more, your immune system would be at least partially suppressed at this point, and a vaccination would have reduced efficacy. But after only three or four months of treatment, it's very unlikely that you have more than an insignificant amount of immune system suppression. So in my (strictly unprofessional) opinion, for all practical purposes, a vaccination should not be significantly affected.

I hope this helps,

Tex

[MomLady]

Thanks very much for sharing your take, Tex. I can always count on you to be there, and I appreciate it.