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Is it safe to take the Shingles vaccine while taking Tacrolimus

Posted by codered032 @codered032, Oct 24, 2021

I had my flu vaccine 4 weeks ago, followed by my Pfizer booster two weeks later. I had the original Shingles vaccine years ago. My PCP has advised me to get the updated Shingles vaccine. I developed no antibodies from Pfizer vaccine but decided to take the booster any way.

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Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Oct 24, 2021

Tacrolimus is strong immunosuppressive med so I’m not sure how effective the Shingrix vax will be while you’re taking this medication…depending on your dosage. I’ve had both my Shingrix shots, but my transplant doctor had me wait until my Tacrolimus level was down to .5 mg daily before getting the vaccine so that it had a chance of working.

How long will you be on the Tacro? From reading your other posts this is for your kidney condition. So you may not be on it long term. It would be more beneficial to wait a little while. You’ve already had a shingles vaccine. If this was before you started taking tacro then you should still have some lingering antibodies. Shingrix is now preferred (and it’s the only available shingles shot) as it is longer lasting but if you receive it and your immune response is suppressed you might do better relying on what’s already in your system.
Was your prior shingles vaccine the Zostavax?

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1 reply
codered032 | @codered032 | Nov 5, 2021
In reply to @loribmt "Tacrolimus is strong immunosuppressive med so I’m not sure how effective the Shingrix vax will be..." + (show)
@loribmt

Tacrolimus is strong immunosuppressive med so I’m not sure how effective the Shingrix vax will be while you’re taking this medication…depending on your dosage. I’ve had both my Shingrix shots, but my transplant doctor had me wait until my Tacrolimus level was down to .5 mg daily before getting the vaccine so that it had a chance of working.

How long will you be on the Tacro? From reading your other posts this is for your kidney condition. So you may not be on it long term. It would be more beneficial to wait a little while. You’ve already had a shingles vaccine. If this was before you started taking tacro then you should still have some lingering antibodies. Shingrix is now preferred (and it’s the only available shingles shot) as it is longer lasting but if you receive it and your immune response is suppressed you might do better relying on what’s already in your system.
Was your prior shingles vaccine the Zostavax?

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Thanks for replying. I am not sure which singles vac I received but it was at least 10 years ago. My recent Tacrolimus level is 6.9 my labs are great and my nephrologist doesn’t plan on any medication changes. I really don’t want to add anything else in my body so for now I will wait.

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1 reply
rkndvm | @rkndvm | Nov 6, 2021
In reply to @codered032 "Thanks for replying. I am not sure which singles vac I received but it was at..." + (show)
@codered032

Thanks for replying. I am not sure which singles vac I received but it was at least 10 years ago. My recent Tacrolimus level is 6.9 my labs are great and my nephrologist doesn’t plan on any medication changes. I really don’t want to add anything else in my body so for now I will wait.

Jump to this post

Great news! What dose of Tacrolimus are you taking currently? What other meds are you on? I had a single Shingles vac 8 years ago and am hoping for some remaining immunity until I am off prednisone or at least on a lower dose.

REPLY
codered032 | @codered032 | Nov 6, 2021

I am not on any other scheduled medications currently. I was tempted to omeprazole for the side effects of Tacrolimus but I don’t want to over work my kidneys. I take TACROLIMUS 3mg twice daily

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rkndvm | @rkndvm | Nov 7, 2021

Thank you! I think it’s great you don’t need medication to manage hypertension nor osteoporosis! Stay well!

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