Improving Vaccination in People With CKD: Report From a National Kidney Foundation Working Group

People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are particularly vulnerable to vaccine-preventable infections. Therefore, the National Kidney Foundation organized a multidisciplinary working group, including people with CKD and family care partners, to develop recommendations to improve vaccination rates, vaccination effectiveness, and health care for the CKD population. A modified Delphi process was used to achieve consensus on the recommendations. Recommendations on vaccination in CKD patients were organized into these categories: (1) patient preferences; (2) assessing the vaccination status of patients with CKD; (3) assessing vaccine response in patients with CKD; (4) vaccination of immunocompromised patients; (5) vaccination in posttransplant patients; (6) vaccinations in patients with CKD before international travel; (7) vaccination of household contacts of patients with CKD; (8) assessing vaccine efficacy and safety in clinical trials with patients with CKD; (9) training and resources for health care teams; (10) training of health care teams for discussions with patients; (11) role of technology in promoting and improving vaccination; and (12) advocacy and policy considerations for promoting and improving vaccination rates. The working group's recommendations should improve communication between patients and health care clinicians, inclusion of people with CKD in vaccine trials, and use of existing clinical guidelines as well as generate educational resources and training materials for CKD patients of all ages and health care professionals.