Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar;12(3):e12134.
doi: 10.1002/clt2.12134.

Allergen immunotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic-A survey of the German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Oliver Pfaar  1 , Eckard Hamelmann  2 , Ludger Klimek  3 , Christian Taube  4 , Christian Vogelberg  5 , Martin Wagenmann  6 , Thomas Werfel  7 , Margitta Worm  8
Affiliations

Allergen immunotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic-A survey of the German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Oliver Pfaar et al. Clin Transl Allergy. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Background: When the coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) emerged, concerns were also raised regarding the safety of allergen immunotherapy (AIT). The German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) conducted a survey to collect real-world data on the daily routine of administering subcutaneous AIT (SCIT) and sublingual AIT (SLIT) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A web-based retrospective survey using the online platform survio with 26 standardized questions was used to survey physicians treating allergic patients during the pandemic.

Results: Three hundred and forty-five physicians who regularly offer and perform AIT in German-speaking countries responded to the questions. 70.4% of the respondents stated that they regularly initiated and dosed up SCIT for inhalant allergies (41.4% venom-SCIT, 73.6% SLIT), and 85.2% of the respondents stated that they continued SCIT for inhalant allergies during the maintenance phase in a regular way (59.1% venom-SCIT, 90.4% SLIT) in healthy patients without current symptoms indicating an infection with COVID-19. With regard to tolerability, there was no evidence for increased occurrence of adverse events in patients without current symptoms of COVID-19 infection during the pandemic.

Conclusions: This retrospective study demonstrated adherence to national and international position papers of AIT during the COVID-19 pandemic in German-speaking countries. Besides, the survey has confirmed a good tolerability of AIT for both SCIT and SLIT.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; allergen immunotherapy; pandemic; safety; survey.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Pfaar reports grants and personal fees from ALK‐Abelló, grants and personal fees from Allergopharma, grants and personal fees from Stallergenes Greer, grants and personal fees from HAL Allergy Holding B.V./HAL Allergie GmbH, grants and personal fees from Bencard Allergie GmbH/Allergy Therapeutics, grants and personal fees from Lofarma, grants from Biomay, grants from Circassia, grants and personal fees from ASIT Biotech Tools S.A., grants and personal fees from Laboratorios LETI/LETI Pharma, personal fees from MEDA Pharma/MYLAN, grants and personal fees from Anergis S.A., personal fees from Mobile Chamber Experts (a GA2LEN Partner), personal fees from Indoor Biotechnologies, grants and personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline, personal fees from Astellas Pharma Global, personal fees from EUFOREA, personal fees from ROXALL Medizin, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Sanofi‐Aventis and Sanofi‐Genzyme, personal fees from Med Update Europe GmbH, personal fees from streamedup! GmbH, grants from Pohl‐Boskamp, grants from Inmunotek S.L., personal fees from John Wiley and Sons, AS, personal fees from Paul‐Martini‐Stiftung (PMS), personal fees from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., personal fees from RG Aerztefortbildung, personal fees from Institut für Disease Management, personal fees from Springer GmbH, personal fees from AstraZeneca, personal fees from IQVIA Commercial, personal fees from Ingress Health, outside the submitted work; and member of EAACI Excom, member of ext. board of directors DGAKI; coordinator, main‐ or co‐author of different position papers and guidelines in rhinology, allergology and allergen‐immunotherapy. Dr. Hamelmann has nothing to disclose. Dr. Klimek reports grants and personal fees from Allergopharma, grants and personal fees from Viatris, personal fees from HAL Allergie, personal fees from ALK Abelló, grants and personal fees from LETI Pharma, grants and personal fees from Stallergenes, grants from Quintiles, grants and personal fees from Sanofi, grants from ASIT biotech, grants from Lofarma, personal fees from Allergy Therapeut., grants from AstraZeneca, grants and personal fees from GSK, grants from Inmunotek, personal fees from Cassella med, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, personal fees from ROXALL Medizin GmbH, outside the submitted work; and Membership: AeDA; DGHNO; Deutsche Akademie für Allergologie und klinische Immunologie; HNO‐BV; GPA; EAACI. Dr. Taube has nothing to disclose. Dr. Vogelberg has nothing to disclose. Dr. Wagenmann reports grants and personal fees from ALK‐Abelló, personal fees from Allergopharma, grants and personal fees from AstraZeneca, personal fees from Bencard, personal fees from Genzyme, grants and personal fees from GSK, personal fees from Infectopharm, personal fees from LETI Pharma, personal fees from med update, grants and personal fees from Novartis, grants and personal fees from Sanofi Aventis, grants from Takeda, personal fees from Stallergenes, outside the submitted work.Dr. Werfel has nothing to disclose. Margitta Worm has served as a speaker, consultant or PI for ALK, Abbvie, Pfizer, Stallergenes, Allergopharma, Aimmune, Thermo Fisher,Novartis, EliLilly, Sanofi, Regeneron, Leo Pharma and Viatris.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Li Q, Guan X, Wu Wang PX, et al. Early transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel coronavirus‐infected pneumonia. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(13):1199‐1207. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(8):727‐733. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) . Coronavirus Disease (COVID‐2019) Situation Reports; 2020. Accessed February 2, 2022. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel‐coronavirus‐2019/situatio...
    1. Wu Z, McGoogan JM. Characteristics of and important lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) outbreak in China: summary of a report of 72 314 cases from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. JAMA. 2020;323(13):1239‐1242. - PubMed
    1. Zhang JJ, Dong X, Cao YY, et al. Clinical characteristics of 140 patients infected with SARS‐CoV‐2 in Wuhan, China. Allergy. 2020;75(7):1730‐1741. - PubMed