NPF Issues New Guidance Regarding COVID-19 Vaccines

The National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) COVID-19 Task Force announces new guidance¹ statements regarding the COVID-19 vaccines and psoriatic disease patients.

"The approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine has provided a light at the end of a tunnel and hope worldwide,” said Stacie Bell, PhD, chief scientific and medical officer of NPF, in a press release. “Vaccination is a critical step in the fight against this life-changing pandemic. We are so fortunate to have an amazing group of providers and researchers to offer guidance to our community as we navigate this unprecedented time."

The new guidance statements urge psoriatic disease patients to get the vaccine as soon as possible based on federal, state and local guidance.

The NPF COVID-19 Task Force also says systemic therapies for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis do not contradict the COVID-19 vaccine and patients should continue their biologic or oral therapies in most cases.

“The new mRNA vaccines are an astonishingly 95% effective in preventing COVID19 [sic] and are extremely safe. We recommend that patients with psoriatic disease get the vaccine as soon as it is available to them. Patients may continue their oral or biologic psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis treatment without interruption when receiving these immunizations,” said Joel Gelfand, MD, MSCE, professor of dermatology and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and co-chair of the NPF COVID-19 Task Force.

The complete list of NPF COVIF-19 Task Force guidance statements can be found here.

Reference:

1. Npf covid-19 task force vaccines statement. Accessed January 22, 2021. https://www.psoriasis.org/covid-19-task-force-vaccine-statement/