Cancer Patients Overlooked in COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
failed to prioritize cancer patients for COVID-19 vaccinations, despite recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to a study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
radiation therapy can leave their immune systems in a weakened state.
forced the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to make difficult patient prioritization decisions. People ages 16 to 64 with high-risk conditions were grouped into the final part of the first phase, along with people ages 65 to 74. However, this group
encompassed 129 million people nationally, leading many states to
sub-prioritize.
of states that elected to follow CDC recommendations. They identified every states’ COVID vaccination webpage through keyword-based internet search and set out to identify information about vaccination for cancer patients.
only 17 gave patients with cancer the same immunization priority as
patients aged 65 to 74, and a mere eight precisely defined a qualifying cancer diagnosis.
with significant medical conditions to have equal vaccination priority
with people over the age of 65, we found that nearly two-thirds of
states did not give equal vaccination priority to patients with cancer,”
said study lead author Rahul Prasad, M.D., from The Ohio State
University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio.
to receive priority vaccination.This lack of clarity is problematic,
Dr. Prasad noted, due to considerable variation within the cancer patient population.
who is now 55, in remission, and wondering if they’re eligible,” Dr.
Prasad said. “On the other side of the spectrum, someone newly diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer may not be particularly immunocompromised if they haven’t started treatment yet.”
vaccine prioritization, six limited it to patients currently receiving treatment.
the CDC recommendations is partly due to attempts at streamlining
vaccination efforts.
line,” he said. “The efforts were well intentioned, but what ended
up happening was that the CDC governing bodies’ definition of
high-risk medical conditions was too broad.”
and high-risk individuals. Dr. Prasad said that these booster shots
offer an opportunity to better mitigate disparities in vaccine access.
“It’s especially critical this time around to make sure these most
at-risk people are getting their boosters in a timely fashion,” Dr.
Prasad said.
medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in
patient care and health care delivery through education, research
and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook,
Illinois. (RSNA.org)
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