Cortisone steroid injections and COVID Vaccination
Cortisone or steroid injections are commonly used by Orthopaedic Surgeons, Rheumatologists, GPs and Pain Specialists to help people manage inflammation and pain due to knee osteoarthritis.
I regularly use this effective treatment in my specialist knee clinic because it really does help people get control of their symptoms and can really be a life changing treatment.
We do know however that Cortisone, a form of steroid, can have effects on your immune system.
Covid-19 vaccinations are taking place around the world. Millions of vaccinations have already been administered in the UK alone.
I know how important it is to give you the right information and tools so you can make the right decision about your healthcare. I’ll make sure I give you the best advice even if it’s just reassurance
Some patients have asked the question “Is it safe to have a cortisone injection after (or before) my vaccine?” I’ve looked into the current advice and research and hopefully I’ll be able to answer that question and reassure people in this article.
Do steroid injections interfere with the covid-19 vaccinations?
Maybe. The honest answer is we are not sure. There have not been any studies specifically looking at this question.
How should you time your steroid injection if you are planning on getting the Covid-19 vaccination?
Lets have a look at what we do know about vaccines and how they work. This will allow us to hopefully answer this question.
How do vaccinations work to confer immunity to Covid-19?
When you are vaccinated, the aim is to get your immune system to react to the vaccine and produce antibodies that will alert certain cells to be on the lookout for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. When successful, the vaccine uses your immune system to produce antibodies against portions of the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to our cells and infect us.
If the virus cannot attach to our cells, it cannot gain entrance to the cell and replicate. The vaccine also causes our immune system to produce a “cellular” immunity. Cellular immunity occurs when certain white blood cells in your body are taught to recognize the spike protein. These cells will lie asleep or dormant unless the virus is seen in your body. Then these cells will wake up and produce antibodies against the spike protein. These cells can also activate other cells, or recruit their friends to take place in the battle against the virus.
This is also why the current mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna require two doses. The first dose wakes up your immune system and starts the process of antibody production. The second injection a few weeks later boosts your immune system further to make more antibodies, and to produce the cellular component of your immune response.
mRNA vaccines require a well functioning immune system to help you have the most protection possible against the virus that causes Covid-19.
Steroid or cortisone injections and your immune system
Steroids affect your immune system. That effect will be dose-dependent. That means that the more steroid you receive, the larger the effect will be on your immune system function.
Will a single steroid injection into your knee, shoulder, hip or elbow affect your immune system?
There is some evidence that steroid injections can increase your risk of getting the flu. But there are no studies that show whether or not a steroid injection increases your risk of getting Covid-19.
Given that millions of people around the world are currently being vaccinated against covid-19, and given that hundreds of thousands of steroid injections are given to patients around the globe every day, I think it makes sense to offer some guidance in this situation.
Steroid injections can also affect your body’s own hormone production. We have different types of steroid injections available to us. Each has a slightly different effect on our hormones. Some of the most commonly injected steroids for joint or tendon pain will diminish certain hormones in our body, such as cortisol, for up to a few weeks. Cortisol is an important regulator of various processes in our body. While steroid injections appear to be helping patients with covid-19 later in the disease process, it is currently believed that they are not helpful, and potentially harmful if used early in the disease course of covid-19.
The timing of steroid injections if you are receiving a Cocvid-19 vaccine
There are two concerns here:
- The timing of steroid injections before receiving a COVID-19 vaccination
- The timing of steroid injections after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination
Steroid injection before receiving the covid-19 vaccine:
If you are planning on receiving the covid-19 vaccination, and you know the date that you will be vaccinated, then based on the available research and position statements from various organisations you should wait up to 4 weeks after you received a cortisone or steroid injection before having a covid-19 vaccine.
Steroid injection timing if you have already received the Covid-19 vaccination:
We want our immune system to function well after we receive the vaccine. That will enable our body to produce antibodies and the cellular components of immunity that we require to minimize our risk of becoming infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
According to the manufacturers, they suggest the following:
- Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine — Theoretically, it is unlikely for a corticosteroid injection to diminish the immunogenicity expected to be achieved by around day 28 or seven days after dose 2, and we would recommend proceeding with corticosteroid injections after this point in time.
- Moderna COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine — Based on the data that are provided in two-week intervals, we would recommend timing corticosteroid injections at around day 42 or 14 days after dose 2.
So, based on the vaccine manufacturer’s recommendations, it appears that it is best to wait until you are two weeks past your second mRNA vaccination dose before receiving a cortisone or steroid injection.
How can we help?
Here at the My Knee Doc clinic we aim to put you front and centre of what we do. We have a great team who will listen to you, help you with your knee problem and guide you through your whole treatment journey. We aim to give you the best possible care from the first time we speak to you, perhaps on your free call, through your initial assessment in the clinic, to your treatment and your follow-up. We won’t just discharge you once your treatment is complete. We have a complete aftercare package which means you always have access to our team of specialists.
References:
- Burns CM. The History of Cortisone Discovery and Development. Rheum Dis Clin North Am. 2016 Feb;42(1):1-14, vii. doi: 10.1016/j.rdc.2015.08.001. PMID: 26611547.
- Sytsma TT, Greenlund LK, Greenlund LS. Joint corticosteroid injection associated with increased influenza risk. Mayo Clin Proc Innov Qual Outcomes 2018; 2:194-198.
- Abdul AJ, Ghai B, Bansal D, Sachdeva N, Bhansali A, Dhatt SS. Hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical axis suppression following a single epidural injection of methylprednisolone acetate. Pain Physician 2017; 20:E991-E1001.
- Habib G, Jabbour A, Salman J, Hakim G, Haddad H. The effect of epidural methylprednisolone acetate injection on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. J Clin Anesth 2013; 25:629-633.
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