Keeping up with your vaccinations is always a smart move, but getting immunized is especially important when you have an autoimmune disease likerheumatoid arthritis (RA). Both RA and themedicines you take to treat itcan increase your risk for infections.
When Joan Wilkinson’s RA flared, her rheumatologist insisted that she and her husband get pneumonia and shingles vaccines to protect her from these common infections. “He said, ‘When you leave here today, go straight to the pharmacist,’” she recalls.