Individuals With Psoriasis Are Hesitant to Get Vaccinated for COVID-19

Individuals with psoriasis are hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccination, but there is no differential risk of respiratory tract infection (RTI) and serous infection (SI), the results of 2 new studies presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology’s (EADV) 30th Congress show.

“Our analysis reveals no differences in risk of respiratory tract infections between biologics, including the newer IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors, in a prospective psoriasis patients’ cohort. In addition, our preliminary results suggest that biological treatments do not impact psoriasis patients’ susceptibility to COVID-19 infections, although this needs to be further investigated,” Lara van der Schoot of the department of dermatology at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands, said in a statement.

“These findings provide key clinical value and will help to guide patient decisions with regard to psoriasis treatment options and choice,” she said.

Results from the first study show that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was driven by safety concerns and worries about aggravation of the individuals’ underlying conditions, as well as a lack of trial data.

Additionally, investigators said that individuals had no information on the effect of the COVID-19 vaccine on biologic therapy in immunocompromised individuals.

Treatments for psoriasis are often associated with an increase in infections, so in the second study, investigators examined the effect of biological therapies on the risk for RTI and SI, including COVID-19.

Investigators found that there was no differential risk of RTI among included biologics adalimumab, etanercept, guselkumab, infliximab, ixekizumab, secukinumab, and ustekinumab, and no association with serious infections.

In the first unique study, investigators collected real-world data from social media to minimize limitations from traditional hospital surveys.

Investigators gathered 10,922 social media posts between January and March 2021. They included individuals in France, Germany, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom, using pre-defined words, which were narrowed down to 625 posts that were manually analyzed.

The second study included 714 individuals with psoriasis, with 1325 treatment episodes from the BioCAPTURE registry, 2224 with RTI and 63 with SI.

Just 1.3% of RITs were reported to be serious.

Reference

Safety analysis of biologics and highlighting vaccine hesitancy: real-world data shines a light on the impact of COVID-19 on psoriasis patients. EurekAlert. News release. September 30, 2021. October 1, 2021. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/929887