FAQs for kidney trasplant recipients

Vaccination is recommended from 3 months after the transplant, so that the immune system has recovered enough to generate a response to the vaccine.

If a living donor kidney transplant is scheduled, the recommendation is to receive both doses of the vaccine before the transplant date.

The COVID-19 vaccine is safe for those who have received a kidney transplant. The side effects that have been reported are comparable to those observed in the general population, and are mild in most cases.

The most common side effect is pain at the vaccine administration site, followed by tiredness and fever. Approximately 25% of transplant recipients who received the vaccine needed to take pain medication (paracetamol) to control the side effects.

No. No cases of worsening of renal function, rejection or production of specific antibodies against the transplanted organ have been observed following vaccination.

The data published indicates that mRNA vaccines generate an immune response (antibodies or lymphocytes) that can be detected in almost half of all kidney transplant patients.

It is currently not known how long the protective effect of vaccination will last in kidney transplant patients.

For this reason, and given that in some cases it is not possible to measure the immune response to the vaccine, it is recommended that precautionary measures continue to be taken in accordance with the current epidemiological situation and the indications of health professionals.