We wish all our members a safe, healthy and Happy New Year. Although the start to 2021 has been stark there seems to be light in the tunnel with the roll out of the vaccination programme. Naturally, some people may have concerns about the new vaccine. We wished to share the following  statement from The European Society for Study of Coeliac Disease (ESsCD):

“Some concerns have been raised with respect to the suitability of these vaccines for people living with coeliac disease. There are no signals so far that people living with coeliac disease are more prone to develop severe Covid-19. This also applies to the few patients with refractory or non-responsive coeliac disease. 

We further fully support the strategies for mass vaccination in the general population including our coeliac disease patients. We do not recommend any particular precautions being made when the vaccines are offered to our patients. Coeliac disease is not an allergic disease.”

There have been some reports about a few people developing allergic reactions to the vaccination. As this statement from the EScCD outlines, CD itself is not an allergic disease. However, allergy (manifested by hayfever, asthma, allergic hives or rashes, food allergies) is no less frequent in coeliac disease than in the general population and allergy is more common than coeliac disease. Similar to encouraging our members to receive the annual flu vaccination, we also encourage our members to receive the COVID-19 vaccination when it is offered. 

There are no gluten ingredients in COVID vaccines and all COVID vaccines are manufactured to a high safety level to ensure no cross contamination