As COVID-19 vaccines are launched, an extremely vulnerable group is overlooked – millions of cancer patients.
Doctors across the country are sounding the alarm that many state governments and the federal advisory committee tasked with prioritizing who should be vaccinated should move cancer patients to the front line, right after nursing home residents and health care workers. from the first line.
At this time, are considered a lower priority than ‘essential workers’, such as firefighters, mass transport workers and possibly even supermarket workers.
However, cancer patients are decimated by COVID-19.
New data of 360 American hospitals show that cancer patients are more at risk of getting COVID than the rest of the population.
Once infected, they are almost twice as likely to need hospitalization.
Even worse, they are three times more likely to die than other hospitalized COVID patients, according to new findings in the journal JAMA Oncology.
New York pulmonologist Daniel Libby explains that cancer patients are likely to become infected frequently because they tend to visit doctors’ offices.
Also, “their defenses are low,” which means their immune system is weaker.
This week, the COVID Lung Cancer Consortium – a group of oncologists – is calling on federals to re-examine priorities and pay “specific attention to this vulnerable population.”
Governor Cuomo should do the same. Last week, Cuomo launched the Vaccine Equity Task Force, including immigrant lawyers, civil rights leaders, tenants ‘associations, workers’ groups and churches, most of whom are political allies of the governor. But no cancer organization made the list.
“It simply came to our notice then talking about who gets vaccinated and let me be clear, there are no policies in the vaccination process, “says Cuomo.” It’s hard to believe, Governor, given who’s on the working group and who’s missing.
In New York and most states, cancer patients are ignored. American Society of Clinical Oncology and American Cancer Society incentive the federal advisory committee to make vaccination of cancer patients a priority, but the commission’s recommendation, announced on December 20, prioritized key workers and people over the age of 75 will be next in line.
This means that in most states, which follow the committee’s recommendations, cancer patients will have to wait several months.
Fred Hirsch, a renowned lung cancer specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center, is
investigating whether the weakened immune systems of cancer patients will cause them to produce fewer antibodies when vaccinated. You may need more vaccinations – three photos or even four, instead two shots currently prescribed for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. All the more reason to start them.
In New York, meanwhile, politically connected unions representing transit workers and supermarket employees are calling on state officials and pushing to be considered “essential workers.” (See the article in The New York Times of December 20, 2020).
But cancer doctors complain that they are in the dark about who to call or when to get vaccines.
The same goes for doctors who treat patients with other diseases.
A Westchester woman tells me she’s worried about her husband. He is 71 years old, with type 1 diabetes and two heart stents and commutes to New York, on Metro North. His doctors do not know when they will receive vaccines. She says, “I can’t believe supermarket workers for 20 years will get this before they do.”
Both the Federal Committee on Vaccines and Cuomo support the prioritization of “essential” workers, as this will mean vaccinating several minorities. Cuomo argues that “black, Hispanic, Asian and low-income communities paid the highest price during COVID-19. “It simply came to our notice then.
According to the data, minorities were only slightly more affected by COVI-19 than others. In New York State, with the exception of New York City, Hispanics account for 12% of the population and 12% of COVID-19 deaths, while blacks account for 9% of the population and 15% of deaths.
Similarly, in New York, black and Hispanic minorities suffered more deaths proportionality than whites, but only by a few percentage points. Asians suffered fewer deaths (7%) than their share of 14% of the population.
The truth is that COVID-19 is a killer with equal chances. Cancer patients are sacrificed, regardless of skin color, and politicians are doing just that.
Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., is the chair of the Committee on Reducing Deaths from Infections. Read more of Betsy McCaughey’s reports – Here Now.
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