Immunizations after chemo…questions

I know that during or after chemo, a flu shot is advised.

Recently, however, my daughter-in-law asked my husband and I to check on our D-tap immunizations (used to be called DPT….diptheria, pertussis and tetnus) because we will be around the new grandson a lot after he arrives and the current recommendation is that anyone around a small baby a lot ,should be up to date on the D-tap immunization, since they can not get the immunization right away and pertussis i(whopping cough) is still “around” and can be deadly to babies.

My husband was a no brainer….he had a booster shot for diptheria and tetnus , (a shot available with just the two diseases) back in 2013…..but they had actually given him the D-tap shot…so he is more than immunized. We are only “supposed” to need one immunization for pertussis in our lifetime, from what I understand.

Now me…..I called my onc…and was told there was no problem in my getting the shot. Then I called my GP to arrange to get it….double checked on it being okay…and was told yes. My last shot was in 2006, so as far as the Tetnus and Diptheria, my immunization was wearing off….but what about the pertussis part? My GP said that since I’d had chemo, to go ahead and get the full shot anyway.

So….does chemo screw up immunities we’ve acquired over the years…from either having a disease or from getting immunized? When the chemo attacks the immune system….does it somehow also kill off antibodies we have made…or diminish them enough to make us susceptible again to these diseases. Or, was my GP just being overly cautious? It seems to me that if this were a big issue, then I would think that my local oncologist would have brought up the subject, but I want to make sure this isn’t a case of both my local and Mayo oncologists thinking the other one would have brought it up…and the GP thinking that the oncologist brought it up.

I tried the search function….but didn’t find anything about this subject. Has anyone run into this question before?

Julie T.