Transplant and COVID vaccines

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Studentmac
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Transplant and COVID vaccines

Postby Studentmac » Fri 07 May 2021 10:54 am

Wondering if anyone has received advice about rejection risks post vaccination, if anyone has been advised to increase eye drops or any preference between mRNA or Viral Vector?

Think I may be somewhat overdue to appointment with consultant and thinking might end up coming up for jab before then but if nobody has been advised to do anything different then I won't worry about which comes first as I highly doubt consultant will give much advice anyway.

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Anne Klepacz
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Re: Transplant and COVID vaccines

Postby Anne Klepacz » Fri 07 May 2021 1:58 pm

Hi,
I did try to get definite advice last autumn, when one of our members contacted us about risk of rejection in relation to the flu jab. One of the Moorfields consultants did some investigation for us and came back with this answer -
"The plan is to get that evidence through the British Ophthalmic Surveilance Unit. This won’t unfortunately give us an answer this winter, or even in time for covid vaccines. My advice in the meantime for those patients with a graft who are taking steroid drops currently, is to temporarily increase the frequency, ideally starting 2 or 3 days before vaccination, and continuing for a fortnight after. for example 4 times a day if you usually the drops once or twice a day."
He also told me a surgeon in Glasgow was taking the lead on this. I will contact Moorfields again, just in case there is an update now that so many people have had the jab, though of course delays in surgery will mean that fewer transplants have been done since Covid, so there's unlikely to be sufficient data to give a clearer answer.

Studentmac
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Posts: 15
Joined: Thu 21 Apr 2011 6:02 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Spectacles

Re: Transplant and COVID vaccines

Postby Studentmac » Fri 07 May 2021 2:18 pm

Thanks Anne that's hugely helpful. Now wondering if it's my surgeon based on location lol.

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space_cadet
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Re: Transplant and COVID vaccines

Postby space_cadet » Fri 14 May 2021 6:11 pm

I have had both pfizer jabs now n noticed my eyes are far dryer than usual which considering i have chronic blepharitus n take a ton of drops already a day and have pernament upper and lower plugs is not fun. I also have had more episodes of corneal filaments which have to be removed in eye casualty in the past 3 months since having both jabs than I had in the previous year
May09 Diagnosed with KC, March 2010 after a failed transplant it has left me legally blind a long cane user (since 2010) who is blind in a once sighted world


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