COVID-19 Update for the GRAPPA 2021 Annual Meeting: Focus on COVID-19 Vaccination

The efficacy and safety of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in patients with autoimmune inflammatory diseases (AIRDs) who are treated with immunornodulatory therapies was the focus of a symposium at the 2021 virtual annual meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA). The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Jeffrey Curtis, chair of the American College of Rheumatology COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Guidance task force, detailing what we do and do not know about vaccine efficacy and safety in patients with AIRDs and providing guidance about the need for modification of dosing in some immunomodulatory medications for optimal vaccine response. A consensus of the task force was that all patients with AIRDs should be vaccinated as soon as it is allowed in their respective locations, since the benefits of increased protection against COVID-19 infection outweigh the potential for vaccination reactions, including flares of underlying disease, or for reduced efficacy of vaccination because of disease state or medications. Key issues among patient research partners with psoriatic disease expressed in the premeeting survey and panel discussion/question-and-answer period included: vaccine efficacy and safety, the need to continue safe social habits and masking, how to assess efficacy of vaccination, how to deal with vaccine hesitancy among social contacts, medication management relative to vaccination, and concerns about the adequacy of ongoing telehealth visits vs the convenience of that technology.