I am not going to have a vaccination.
Fair enough vaccinations are not mandatory but why?
aHUS
Oh you have aHUS.
No but it does not matter if I had. I could get aHUS.
All people who are vaccinated could get aHUS?
No but some could.
Including you. Why?
Because I know I am genetically predisposed to the disease and a vaccination could set it off.
Fair enough would all vaccinations do that ?
I guess so, its because of what vaccinations do to you.
Remind me of what that is.
Well it is to put viruses or bits of the virus into you blood so your immune system creates antibodies, yes antibodies, to fight them off, Just like the body does when you have an infection. If you have had an infection your body will have antibodies ready to fight.
If you have not had that infection?
Then a vaccination will do the same and have antibodies ready to work so you won’t be as dangerously ill.
So you have decided not to protective yourself from being dangerously ill?
Yes because I could be just as dangerously ill with aHUS.
Fair enough there is a chance. So if I understand it correctly there is more chance of the viral vaccination triggering your aHUS than the viral infection doing so. Presumably the immune reaction would be the same which ever way the virus enters your body?
Let me think about that. If I did not know I was predisposed to aHUS then it would mean having the vaccination trigger a disease I knew nothing about.
I guess so.
It would not be the same as if I knew it might happen and it was my decision to do it and start my own aHUS.
Having an infection is mostly outside my control so it would not be my own fault.
Not necessarily so because there are things you can do to prevent an infection but they may restrict your lifestyle.
I can see that.
Yes well I was just about to tell you about some aHUS data and COVID.
OK
There is growing data about vaccination and infection related aHUS onset to show which is the safest choice. A well known and reputed research group in Vienna , Austria, led by Christoph Aigner did look into it. Well into that very controversial one for COVID.
OK go on what did they find?
Well during the 30 months of the COVID pandemic among 27 patients, Only one of the 70 vaccinations received actually triggered an aHUS relapse (1.5%).
There told you so.
But they also found that having the infection puts patients at more risk of aHUS than vaccination. They found 13 infections triggered 3 re-onsets of aHUS( 23%) .
But it shows over 75% did not have an infection and that the vaccine can be a trigger.
I guess so but 98% of those vaccinations did not trigger an episode of aHUS and those who had a vaccination had better immunity. Within 3 to 7 days signs of a TMA would have been apparent but did not
But one did.
Fair enough but as that person was aware of their predisposition they could seek a complement inhibitor quickly so no damage is done.
Yes but they now need their complement inhibited.
For a while but the vaccination is a transitory trigger. Once the vaccination process concludes, treatment may be stopped. What this will need is careful monitoring.
It is a worry and so I will not be vaccinated.
But your worries don’t end there if you don’t. It is down to our personal attitude to the risks. Also this is limited data. There is more about those who did not know they were predisposed.
Oh yeh what?
Another group including Rupesh Raina, a well known expert on aHUS, looked at all the reported case studies they could find of TMA following COVID infection and vaccinations. There were 170 cases of which 84 were aHUS, the rest TTP. 65 of the aHUS cases followed infection and 19 were after a COVID infection. So similar proportions to the Aigner Group findings. So more likely for the infection to trigger aHUS than vaccination.
Does seem to be a bit of a pattern but it is hard to decide.
Indeed Doctors are more likely to recommend vaccinations than not.
But now I have some information to think about it.
In the general population around 1 or 2 % are hesitant about vaccinations for different reasons , do they work, are there side effects, low risk perception of getting an infection, fear of vaccine delivery and reactions.
So I am not alone.
Guess not.
Article No. 794
