Liver transplant - Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Vaccine ABRYSVO

Hi, @grateful76, I did get the RSV vaccine. It was recommended by transplant team. In fact, even my husband got it when I did! Before my transplant he had never gotten the annual flu vaccine, but as a teacher, I had received it for many years. He was strongly advised-no, he was told- that he would need to get it every year at flu season! He hasn’t missed a year and we have both reaped the reward of not having any flu or complications.
Anyway, back to the RSV, I don’t recall any side effects so I must not have had anything that a Tylenol could relieve.
I am more than happy to comply with the directions from my liver and kidney transplant teams which are in agreement before ever recommending anything.
By way of experience and dislike for arm pain, I choose to take my shots on different days that I space apart.
This year my vaccine directions were to get flu, pneumonia, and Covid. I spaced those apart and completed my vaccines last week!
Is there any particular reason you are concerned about side effects? Have you experienced any bothersome side effects in the past?

Thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate it.

grateful76 I got the RSV vaccine last month and had no side effects, not even a sore arm.

I had it at same time as flu shot and recommends new pneumonia vaccine. Even though I had that couple years ago my pharmacist recommended the updated pneumonia. No side effects. Yes, mayo did rrecommend the RSV this year, so I got it!

@rosemarya and @mkhogan

@rosemarya I, too, choose to space my vaccines apart, taking them on different days. The reason I do that is in case I do experience side effects, I can have a better idea of what caused it. If I have two vaccinations at the same time, and I have a reaction, I wouldn't know which shot caused it.

I hear all the time about getting your shots together at the same time. And that's probably more convenient for most people. But, interestingly, I had seen the following comment from @sueinmn on October 9th where she mentioned what her doctor advised her about taking the shots.

@sueinmn said: "She said that with lowered defenses, it was important to build whatever immunity was possible with the vaccines. I felt like a pin cushion for several weeks as she insisted each be done a minimum of 7 days apart."

I had never heard that advice before, but I think it's very interesting. And, I will use that as another reason to continue spacing out my shots.

Well. It would help nice if mayo transplant would send out more comprehensive information to their patients through newsletters or Portal. I have often read about vaccine recommendations or current RSV upsurge through media or the general mayo Facebook I :"follow" just because I saw it and joined one day. When I have messaged my nurse coordinator about whether yo do things, the response will usually be, yes. We recommend that. Always baffles me as to why they don't act more proactive on their preventative care and post care. I would expect that be a critical role of the department care. I have too often found that lacking. I know people are busy. The on going care and health of our transplants is a delicate balance. Even this group i stumbled upon after over three years post. This should be more prominently discussed. Not just a slop of paper placed in a large discharge oackat. Not even sure they put it out that way. . There is so much good information here, but even this is our experiences not necessarily correct information. But I have found so much guidance here. It at least gives me things to ask about. . Thanks for information and I apologize for my side venting. Just see areas of need

@mkhogan, my understanding is that communication and guidelines are sent to all Mayo Clinic transplant patients through various means, including mail, the patient portal as well as the Mayo Clinic transplant social media platforms. Perhaps @keggebraaten can confirm.

You'll be pleased to hear that placement of information Mayo Clinic Connect continues to grow. You should see it in the patient portal as well as in strategic places on Mayo Clinic's website, in patient information handouts, in our patient libraries and much more. 🙂

@mkhogan and @colleenyoung - thanks for including me in this discussion. We try to provide patients with important medical information as often as possible, but we want to be cautious about providing too much information by patient portal, as we want those messages to be important times when we need to contact you about your care. As you may know, our transplant programs strongly encourage transplant patients (pre and post) to have local care such as a primary care physician or equivalent. While we do talk with patients about vaccines and other preventative care, we rely on the patient's local doctors to manage all of those things. As primary care physicians, those preventative care measures are their specialty, while our specialty is your transplanted organ. Vaccines are important to keep you and your organ healthy, and we do strongly recommend them. I hope that helps. We are always open to ideas on how to better communicate with our patients. Keep them coming!

@keggebraaten Your post lines up with my experience. It was my PCP (not my transplant team) who discussed with me which vaccines I needed this year.