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Review
. 2024 Jun 27;12(7):715.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines12070715.

Vaccination in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis: A Neglected Topic

Tommaso Stroffolini  1 , Giacomo Stroffolini  2
Affiliations
Review

Vaccination in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis: A Neglected Topic

Tommaso Stroffolini et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Patients with liver cirrhosis, due to their weakened innate and adaptive immunity, are more prone to frequent and severe vaccine-preventable infections. Moreover, impaired adaptive immunity results in a limited antibody response to vaccines. Despite this suboptimal antibody response, vaccines have proven to be very effective in reducing severe outcomes and deaths in these patients. In the Western world, regulatory authorities and scientific liver societies (e.g., AASLD and EASL) have recommended vaccinations for cirrhotic patients. However, despite these strong recommendations, vaccine coverage remains suboptimal. Improving vaccine effectiveness and safety information, providing comprehensive counseling to patients, fact-checking to combat fake news and disinformation and removing barriers to vaccination for disadvantaged individuals may help overcome the low coverage rate. In view of this, vaccines should be administered early in the course of chronic liver diseases, as their efficacy declines with the increasing severity of the disease.

Keywords: chronic liver disease; cirrhosis; vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

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