COVID-19 is still present throughout most of the United States. As the holiday season approaches, it is critically important that you and your household members and other close contacts are all vaccinated against COVID-19. If you have not yet been vaccinated, we are happy to give you the COVID-19 vaccine at a Penn Medicine location or help you find a place to get the vaccine close to home.
The FDA and CDC have recently updated their recommendations for immunosuppressed patients, including transplant recipients. In line with this guidance, Penn Transplant would like to provide the following information.
If you received the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine as your first vaccine at least two months ago:
You should get another dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. You are able to choose which vaccine to get, although we recommend that you receive an mRNA vaccine (either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) if possible. Here are your options:
- You can get a second dose of the J&J vaccine or
- You can get a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine or
- You can get a dose of the Moderna mRNA vaccine. You can get either the full dose or the booster (half) dose. If you have a choice, please get the full dose.
If you received the Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccine(s) as your primary vaccine at least 28 days ago:
- We recommend a third dose of either mRNA vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccines have made a difference, even for transplant recipients who may have weaker responses to vaccines. We are seeing fewer vaccinated patients being admitted to the hospital or getting very sick from COVID-19, while unvaccinated patients are still developing severe infection. Because transplant patients may not be fully protected by the vaccine, it is extremely important that all of your close contacts (family, friends, co-workers) get vaccinated. At this time, the only individuals not eligible for a vaccine are children under the age of five.
If you have had any recent changes in your health status, have recently been treated for rejection, or been recently treated for COVID or another viral infection, you should talk to your transplant team before getting your third dose. Please notify your transplant team if you receive any vaccine doses outside of Penn Medicine so that we can make sure that we have accurate information in your medical record.
Even after full vaccination, you should continue to take precautions. The Delta variant, the strain of COVID currently circulating in the US, is very contagious and even vaccinated people have been getting infected. Please remember to do the following:
- Wear a mask when you are not at home.
- Stay six-feet apart from others who you don't live with.
- Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
- Contact your health care team immediately if you start to develop symptoms that might be COVID-19 (i.e., fevers, chills, cough, runny nose, fatigue, sore throat, loss of taste and/or smell, diarrhea) or have had an exposure to someone with COVID-19. Early diagnosis is important, as we may be able to provide medications to prevent you from getting sicker.
- Get your flu shot. The flu has begun circulating, and we want to make sure you are well protected. You can get your flu shot at the same time as your COVID-19 vaccine.
If you have any questions, please read our COVID-19 vaccine questions and answers (FAQ) and, of course, do not hesitate to contact your transplant team via myPennMedicine.