When do you recommend patients get vaccinations with respect to their RT course?

I agree with @Dr. First Last's reply, and find that some patients are under the impression they are immunocompromised during radiation therapy and thus should avoid vaccines, when in fact the opposite is true. The skepticism behind the science of vaccination also can lead to avoidance, and so I try ...

It is important to get all of the above listed vaccines as scheduled, as the effect of these infections is greater in patients who have reduced immunity because of chemo and/or RT. The new shingles vaccine (shingrix) is not a live attenuated virus, so reduced immunity will not have adverse effects o...

Whenever.

I advise patients NOT to get vaccinations during radiation. The American Cancer Society also recommends NOT getting vaccinations during radiation.

I agree with @Dr. First Last and @Dr. First Last for most circumstances.

However, when irradiating the left lower lobe of the lung or upper abdomen, I try to ensure that patients receive pneumococcal vaccination before treatment begins, due to the potential risk of pneumonia/sepsis from splenic radia...

Regarding the concern for efficacy of the flu vaccine during periods of immunosuppression, the recently published study by Blanchette et al in JCO showed that being on active chemotherapy for solid tumors did not decrease efficacy of the flu vaccine. For patients undergoing active chemo for hematolo...

Low absolute lymphocyte counts reduce protective immune response to H1N1 vaccine in this pediatric population. Low CD4 T cell count also reduced vaccine efficacy. The Blanchette study is a population-based study of cancer patients evaluating laboratory-confirmed and hospitalization-confirmed influen...