OTC drugs may hinder Vaccinations

Researchers have found that aspirin and acetaminophen may be diminishing the effectiveness of various vaccinations, including the flu vaccine.

Investigators at the University of Missouri, Columbia, explain that aspirin blocks the COX-1 enzyme.  COX-1 inhibition may in turn reduce the number of antibodies the immune system produces.

If you're taking aspirin regularly, which many people do for cardiovascular treatment, or acetaminophen for pain and fever, and get a flu shot, there is a good chance that you won't have a good antibody response, researchers cautioned.  The groups findings are unpublished at this time.

Researchers have already found that these nonsteroidal drugs do inhibit vaccines in animals, but the next step is to test it on humans.  If the results show that COX-1 inhibitors affect vaccines, the takeaway might be to not take drugs, such as aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen for a couple of weeks before and after you get a vaccine.

~The Clinical Advisor February 2010