Vaccination despite allergies: yes or no?
Parents of children with known allergies are usually extremely cautious about vaccinations. Despite an allergy, the risk of vaccination is not always as great as might be assumed. The intensive discussion with the pediatrician is a must.
If your child is allergic , you have to be particularly careful in many areas. This also applies to vaccinations. However, it is generally true that good vaccination protection is no less important for allergy sufferers than for people without allergies. Whether vaccination is possible and sensible despite an allergy must therefore be decided on a case-by-case basis after a thorough assessment of the benefits and risks.
When should you be careful with a vaccination despite an allergy?
Vaccines not only consist of the antigens required for immunization, but also contain various accompanying and auxiliary substances that can possibly have an allergenic effect. For example, antibiotics, gelatin or the chemical formaldehyde are often used to preserve and stabilize the vaccine sera. In the case of known allergies to one of these substances or another ingredient in the vaccine serum, an injection should be avoided or, if possible, a different vaccine should be used.
With the progress in the development of vaccines, allergic reactions to excipients in the vaccine sera are becoming increasingly rare. The majority of multiple vaccines are now even free of preservatives, which is why immunization with such a vaccine is better tolerated by many allergy sufferers.
However, special caution is required if the vaccinated person is allergic to chicken protein.
Vaccination for chicken protein allergy
Many vaccine viruses were previously cultured on chicken connective tissue cells. In the meantime, the virus replication has been largely changed, but some vaccines can still contain chicken protein components. The antigens against influenza and yellow fever are still obtained from incubated chicken eggs, which is why vaccination against these two diseases should only take place if special precautions are taken and long-term medical supervision, for example in a hospital.
However, only immediate-type chicken protein allergy sufferers are affected by the special vaccine reactions, i.e. those who have an allergic reaction immediately after taking chicken protein. Such reactions can include swelling of the tongue and lips on contact with egg whites, skin rashes, facial swelling, vomiting, shortness of breath or circulatory collapse shortly after ingestion.
When not to vaccinate if you have an allergy?
In addition to specific allergic reactions to the vaccines, allergy sufferers should not be vaccinated under certain other circumstances:
- Hyposensitization: If the vaccinated person is in the process of being hyposensitized to an allergy, there should be a gap of one to two weeks between the last specific allergy vaccination as part of this therapy and another vaccination.
- Worsening phase: If the allergy sufferer is in a worsening phase of their allergy, for example, in the case of a pollen allergy sufferer during the pollen flight season, vaccinations should be avoided completely in order not to burden the already weakened immune system even more.
- Taking cortisone: Even when taking high doses of cortisone, vaccination should be avoided if possible, since such therapy largely suppresses the function of the immune system.
Some vaccinations are especially important for allergy sufferers
Even if there are some, mostly temporary, contraindications to certain vaccinations for allergy sufferers, vaccination protection should not generally be dispensed with. In the case of certain allergies or allergic problems, certain vaccinations are even highly recommended and can protect the person concerned from serious complications of an infectious disease.
- Neurodermatitis: If your child suffers from neurodermatitis, vaccinations against chickenpox, tetanus and hepatitis B are particularly recommended. The tetanus viruses can get into the organism more easily through open skin areas in neurodermatitis patients and both chickenpox and hepatitis B can take a much more severe course in those affected. Although the skin condition can temporarily deteriorate after vaccination, this should not be a reason to forego long-term protection against serious diseases.
- Respiratory diseases: Vaccination against influenza and pneumococci is particularly recommended for asthmatics or patients with other respiratory diseases. Both the lungs and the bronchial tubes can suffer considerable damage from these viral infections, which would permanently aggravate the already existing underlying disease. Vaccination against whooping cough should also be considered for asthmatic children.
Discuss every vaccination with your pediatrician despite allergies
Before each vaccination, you should discuss with the doctor treating you whether there are any particular risks for allergy sufferers. You should consciously address all important factors, such as possible ingredients of different vaccine serums. If the vaccinator and the doctor treating the allergy are two different people, you should discuss with the allergy doctor in advance which vaccinations are useful and necessary and when is the right time for immunization.
In general, if an allergy is present, the doctor treating you should always make a very differentiated decision as to whether and which vaccination is to be administered and, in any case, take precautions to treat any vaccination reactions that may occur.