Written by Nevada Advanced Pain Specialists staff

The CDC along with several medical societies have recommended caution regarding receiving corticosteroid injections concurrently with a COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine’s efficacy and side effects have not been properly tested when given concurrently with a steroid injection. Combining these medical treatments may have unintended effects. Although it is still recommended to proceed with planned injections and procedures, these organizations simply recommend finding a safe timeframe to have them done. Recommendations have changed several times and continue to change. At the time of publication, the Spine Intervention Society’s (SIS) recommended the following:

TIMING OF INJECTIONS PRIOR TO COVID-19 VACCINATION (NOT BRAND-SPECIFIC):
It may be prudent, based on indirect evidence, to schedule elective corticosteroid injection(s) approximately two weeks before vaccine administration and no later than one week before vaccine administration to avoid potential decrease in immunogenicity of the mRNA vaccines.

TIMING OF INJECTIONS AFTER COVID-19 VACCINATION (BRAND-SPECIFIC):
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine — Theoretically, it is unlikely for a corticosteroid injection to diminish the immunogenicity expected to be achieved by around day 28 or seven days after dose 2. We would recommend proceeding with corticosteroid injections after this point in time.

Moderna COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine — Based on the data that are provided in two-week intervals, we would recommend timing corticosteroid injections at around day 42 or 14 days after dose 2.