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CC BY 4.0 · Rev Bras Ginecol Obstet 2021; 43(02): 150-154
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1726075
Febrasgo Position Statement

Vaccination in women with cancer

Number 2 - February 2021
Nilma Antas Neves 
1   Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brasil.
,
Júlio César Teixeira 
2   Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil.
,
André Luis Ferreira Santos 
3   Universidade de Taubaté, Taubaté, SP, Brasil.
,
Manoel Afonso Guimarães Gonçalves 
4   Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
,
Fabíola Zoppas Fridman 
5   Hospital Femina Grupo Hospitalar Conceição, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
,
Cecília Maria Roteli-Martins 
6   Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, Santo André, SP, Brasil.
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Key points

  • Cancer patients may be immunosuppressed due to their disease of origin or because of anticancer therapies. The degree and duration of immunosuppression varies according to the drug, dose and duration of treatment.

  • Immunization of patients with neoplasms must be considered from two points of view: the immunization of the patient herself, as well as the immunization of the family, health professionals and the patient's caregivers.

  • The term “immunosuppressed” encompasses different types and degrees of immunosuppression, such as deficiencies in humoral, cellular, complement and phagocytosis immunity. Different impairments of the immune system influence the effectiveness of immunization and the risk of adverse effects.

  • Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals provide immunobiologicals for routine immunization schedules and special ones for patients in certain conditions.

  • Vaccination guidance should result from joint work between the patient's attending physician and Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals, as both the vaccination schedule and its respective doses may not follow the usual recommendations.

  • Patients who received chemotherapy for the treatment of neoplasms could benefit from booster doses of vaccines, although there is still no defined approach for this situation.

The National Specialty Commission for Vaccines of the Brazilian Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Associations (FEBRASGO) endorses to this document. The content production is based on scientific studies on a thematic proposal and the findings presented contribute to clinical practice.




Publication History

Article published online:
26 February 2021

© 2021. Federação Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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