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We appreciated the comment from Schulze-Koops et al 1 in response to our paper on the clinical course and outcome of COVID-19 in a cohort of patients treated with biological and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARDs).2 The authors stated that the message conveyed by our report or other similar observational data or clinical studies is potentially harmful for patients with rheumatic diseases who might think they are protected against complications of COVID-19 by their immunomodulatory drug. Nevertheless, in our publication, we clearly stated that our findings did not allow any conclusions on the overall outcome of immunocompromised patients affected by COVID-19 and that a high level of vigilance and strict follow-up should be maintained on these susceptible patients. Moreover, our …
Footnotes
Handling editor Josef S Smolen
Contributors Both authors contributed equally to the manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.