COVID-19 vaccinations for immunosuppressed patients

Public Health England’s Immunisation Against Infectious Disease (The Green book) states that immunosuppressed patients, due to disease or treatment are clinically extremely vulnerable and should be vaccinated against COVID-19 and should have not have their vaccinations delayed.
According to the Green Book most of the more severely immunosuppressed individuals in this group should already be flagged as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV). Individuals who are not yet on the CEV list, but who are about to receive highly immunosuppressive interventions or those whose level of immunosuppression is about to increase may be therefore be offered the COVID-19 vaccine alongside the CEV group, if therapy can be safely delayed or there is sufficient time (ideally two weeks) before therapy commences.

The Trust has agreed that patients can be vaccinated via local GP hubs. Because this only currently applies to South Tyneside and Sunderland, we have agreed to vaccinate patients from Durham and Gateshead as well as long as they fall under our care at the Trust.

To enable this to happen:

  • Complete the referral form and email it securely to the appropriate PCN email address – this should be done on the same day. Guidance on the referral pathway can be found here.
  • Patients who do not live within Sunderland or South Tyneside catchment areas will need to choose which area they prefer to travel to for vaccination.

This is a shared decision making process between the responsible clinician and the patient to determine the best choice for each patient.

On the back of this guidance, if your patient is pregnant to aid shared decision making can you please share the attached patient information leaflet with them that can also be found on this link: COVID-19 Vaccine info sheet (rcog.org.uk)
 

Pregnancy and fertility

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