Vaccinnations and Tecfidera

Everyday living
1

Does anyone know what vaccinations you are not allowed to have when taking Tecfidera.

I will be working on a cruise ship in September which travels around the Caribbean Islands. What vaccinations do you need when travelling here? I have read that certain live vaccines are dangerous for people with MS. Does anyone know anything about this?

I have been passed back and forth by GP’s, doctors and nurses and nobody is answering my question…please help!

Thanks in advance, Laura

2

Hello Laura, I found this from the US National MS Society https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Living-Well-With-MS/Diet-Exercise-Healthy-Behaviors/Vaccinations and the bit that I spotted looks to answer -

  • Inactivated vaccines are generally considered safe for people with MS, including those who are taking an interferon medication (Avonex®, Betaseron®, Extavia®, Plegridy®, Rebif®), Aubagio®, Copaxone®, Gilenya®, Glatopa®, Lemtrada®, mitoxantrone, Tecfidera® or Tysabri®.
  • Live, attenuated vaccines are generally not recommended for a person with MS because their ability to cause disease has been weakened but not totally inactivated.

Contact your Neurologist, if I were you, for absolute confirmation.

Have a good time.

3

The US Government Centre for Disease Control is a good source of info.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/

When I last had cause to ask a similar question (different DMD, different part of the world in my case) I followed the same advice as

Do chivvy your medical advisors, though - they are the professionals here. I think that one of the troubles is that DMDs are so new that there really isn’t much of a body of evidence on this sort of thing yet. Modern doctors get the bends when asked to make a recommendation not based on evidence they trust, so that might explain why they are being a bit useless even if they do want to help.

Happy travels.

Alison

4

when I started Tec, I was given a pack with loads of contact info. Did your ms nurse give you the pack ? Not sure where mine is, but if you can’t find / your ms nurse is un able to provide let me know, as their were people to contact to ask q’s.