Question:

Can you tell me if the swine vaccine is dead or an alive vaccine and if it would be okay for someone on Orencia to get?

Answer:

It is recommended that individuals taking immune suppressing medications such as abatacept (Orencia) be immunized with killed vaccines. Killed vaccines are immunizations that will confer immune protection but will not cause the actual disease.

As of today (8/4/09) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website does not state if the planned batches of H1N1 swine flu vaccine are killed or live vaccines. However, presumably, they are killed vaccines. Please continue to check with your current health care providers or the CDC for further updates and clarification about the impending swine flu vaccine.

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Go to the Arthritis and Rheumatism health topic.