NOTTO COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines for Transplant Recipients

Vivek B Kute; Sanjay K Agarwal; Jai Prakash; Sandeep Guleria; Sunil Shroff; Ashish Sharma; Prem Varma; Narayan Prasad; Manisha Sahay; Subhash Gupta; S Sudhindran; Kewal Krishan; Vasanthi Ramesh; Sunil Kumar

doi:10.4103/ijn.IJN_64_21

NOTTO COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines for Transplant Recipients

Indian J Nephrol. 2021 Mar-Apr;31(2):89-91. doi: 10.4103/ijn.IJN_64_21. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Authors

Vivek B Kute¹, Sanjay K Agarwal², Jai Prakash³, Sandeep Guleria⁴, Sunil Shroff⁵, Ashish Sharma⁶, Prem Varma⁷, Narayan Prasad⁸, Manisha Sahay⁹, Subhash Gupta¹⁰, S Sudhindran¹¹, Kewal Krishan¹², Vasanthi Ramesh¹³, Sunil Kumar¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nephrology, Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Center and Dr. H L Trivedi Institute of Transplantation Sciences (IKDRC-ITS), Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
² Department of Nephrology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India.
³ Department of Nephrology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
⁴ Department of Transplantation Surgery, Apollo Hospital, Delhi, India.
⁵ Managing, Trustee, MOHAN Foundation, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁶ Department of Transplant Surgery, The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
⁷ Department of Nephrology, Venkateshwar Hospital, Delhi, India.
⁸ Department of Nephrology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
⁹ Department of Nephrology, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
¹⁰ Department of Liver Transplant Surgery, Max Center of Liver and Biliary Sciences at Max Hospital, Saket, Delhi, India.
¹¹ Clinical Professor in Transplantation and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Kochi, Kerala, India.
¹² Department of Cardiovascular Surgery Max super specialty Hospital Saket, New Delhi, India.
¹³ National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization, New Delhi, India.
¹⁴ Director General of Health Services, New Delhi, India.

Abstract

In December 2019, novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection started in Wuhan and resulted in a pandemic within a few weeks' time. Organ transplant recipients being at a risk for more severe COVID-19 if they get SARS CoV-2 viral infection, COVID-19 vaccine has a significant role in these patients. The vaccine is a safer way to help build protection and would either prevent COVID-19 infection or at least diminish the severity of the disease. It would also reduce the risk of the continuing transmission and enhance herd immunity. Immuno-compromised patients should not receive live vaccines as they can cause vaccine-related disease and hence the guidelines suggest that all transplant recipients should receive age-appropriate 'inactivated vaccine' as recommended for general population. Though trials have not been undertaken on transplant recipients, efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccine have been scientifically documented for few vaccines among the general population.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; NOTTO; guidelines; transplant recipients.