Corticosteroid Injections and mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines

Fact: There is currently no direct evidence to suggest that a corticosteroid injection before or after the administration of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine decreases the efficacy of the vaccine. However, based on the known timeline of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis suppression following epidural and intraarticular corticosteroid injections, and the timeline of the reported peak efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, physicians should consider timing an elective corticosteroid injection such that it is administered no less than two weeks prior to a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine dose and no less than one week following a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine dose, whenever possible.

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