Characteristics of 36 adolescents with inflammatory RMDs from the EULAR COVAX registry, stratified by vaccination status
| All (N=36) | Fully vaccinated* (N=16) | Partially vaccinated† (N=20) | ||
| Sex | Female | 21 (58) | 9 (56) | 12 (60) |
| Male | 15 (42) | 7 (44) | 8 (40) | |
| Age (median (IQR)) | 15 (14.5–17) | 17 (15–17) | 15 (13–16.5) | |
| Primary RMD diagnosis | Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, not systemic | 10 (28) | 3 (19) | 7 (35) |
| Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, systemic | 5 (14) | 3 (19) | 2 (10) | |
| Systemic lupus erythematosus | 5 (14) | 2 (12) | 3 (15) | |
| Spondyloarthritis/psoriatic arthritis | 5 (14) | 3 (19) | 2 (10) | |
| Vasculitis/other RMD‡ | 11 (30) | 5 (31) | 6 (30) | |
| RMD disease activity | Remission | 23 (64) | 8 (50) | 15 (75) |
| Minimal | 8 (22) | 6 (38) | 2 (10) | |
| Moderate | 2 (6) | 1 (7) | 1 (5) | |
| Severe | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| Not applicable/missing | 2 (6) | 1 (7) | 1 (5) | |
| RMD medication | None | 9 (25) | 5 (31) | 4 (20) |
| Antimalarials (including hydroxycholoroquine, chloroquine and mepacrine/quinacrine) | 8 (22) | 3 (19) | 5 (25) | |
| Rituximab | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| Cyclosporine | 1 (2) | 1 (6) | ||
| Glucocorticoids—systemic | 5 (14) | 3 (19) | 2 (10) | |
| IL-1 inhibitors (including anakinra, canakinumab, rilonacept) | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| Methotrexate | 13 (36) | 5 (31) | 8 (40) | |
| Held before vaccination | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| Mycophenolate mofetil/mycophenolic acid | 4 (11) | 2 (12) | 2 (10) | |
| Held before vaccination | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| TNF inhibitors (including infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, golimumab, certolizumab and biosimilars) | 7 (19) | 2 (12) | 5 (25) | |
| Held before vaccination | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| COVID-19 vaccine type | Pfizer-BioNTech | 33 (92) | 16 (100) | 17 (85) |
| Moderna | 2 (6) | 2 (10) | ||
| AstraZeneca/Oxford | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| COVID-19 vaccine doses | 1 | 11 (31) | 11 (55) | |
| 2 | 24 (67) | 15 (94) | 9 (45) | |
| 3 | 1 (2) | 1 (6) | ||
| RMD flare | Yes | 1 (2) | 1 (6) | |
| No | 35 (97) | 15 (94) | 20 (100) | |
| Adverse event (AE) | Yes | 20 (56) | 8 (50) | 12 (60) |
| No | 16 (44) | 8 (40) | 8 (40) | |
| Early AE types | Pain at the site of injection | 8 (22) | 3 (19) | 5 (25) |
| Generalised muscle pain | 6 (17) | 3 (19) | 3 (15) | |
| Generalised joint pain | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| Headache | 4 (11) | 1 (6) | 3 (15) | |
| Fever | 9 (25) | 5 (31) | 4 (20) | |
| Chills | 1 (2) | 1 (6) | ||
| Fatigue | 2 (6) | 1 (6) | 1 (5) | |
| Vomiting | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| AE of special interest | Malaise | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | |
| Syncope | 1 (2) | 1 (6) | ||
| AE seriousness | Non-serious | 1 (2) | 1 (6) | |
| Serious—important medical event | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | ||
| AE outcome | Ongoing/continuing | 1 (2) | 1 (5) | |
| Recovered/resolved without sequelae | 1 (2) | 1 (6) | ||
All data are N (%) of the column unless stated otherwise.
*Fully vaccinated: ≥14 days after dose 2 at time of reporting.
†Partially vaccinated: ≥14 days after dose 1 to <14 days after dose 2 at time of reporting.
‡Other RMD includes Sjogren’s syndrome, systemic sclerosis, undifferentiated connective tissue disease, non-monogenic autoinflammatory syndrome, chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis and other inflammatory arthritis.
EULAR, European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology; IL-1 inhibitors, interleukin-1 inhibitors; RMD, rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease; TNF-inhibitors, tumour necrosis factor inhibitors.