As COVID-19 vaccines roll out, an extremely vulnerable group is being overlooked: millions of cancer patients.
Doctors across the country are ringing the alarm that many state governments and the federal advisory committee tasked with determining who gets vaccinated should bring cancer patients to primary care right after nursing home residents and primary care health workers.
At the moment they are considered one lower priority than “essential workers” such as firefighters, public transport workers and possibly even supermarket employees.
Still, cancer patients are decimated by COVID-19.
New data out of 360 American hospitals show that cancer patients are more at risk of contracting COVID than the rest of the population.
Once infected, they are almost twice as likely to be hospitalized.
Even worse, according to new findings in the journal JAMA Oncology, they are three times more likely to die than other hospitalized COVID patients.
New York lung specialist Daniel Libby explains that cancer patients are likely to become infected often because they visit doctor’s offices.
Also, their “defenses are low,” meaning their immune system is weaker.
This week, the COVID Lung Cancer Consortium – a group of oncologists – is calling on the FBI to rethink its priorities and “pay specific attention to this vulnerable population.”
Governor Cuomo should do the same. Last week, Cuomo launched the “Vaccine Equity Task Force,” which includes immigrant lawyers, civil rights leaders, tenants’ associations, union groups and churches, most of which are political allies of the governor. But no cancer organizations made the list.
“We are now talk about who gets vaccinated, and let me be clear, there is no politics in the vaccination process, “says Cuomo. It’s hard to believe, Governor, considering who’s on the task force and who’s missing.
Cancer patients are ignored in New York and most states. The American Society of Clinical Oncology and The American Cancer Society insisted the federal advisory committee to make vaccination of cancer patients a top priority, but the committee’s recommendation announced Dec. 20, prioritized essential workers and people 75 and older to be next in line.
That means that in most states that follow the committee’s recommendations, cancer patients have to wait months longer.
Fred Hirsch, a renowned lung cancer specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center, is
investigate whether the weakened immune system of cancer patients causes them to produce fewer antibodies upon vaccination. They may need more vaccinations – three or even four injections instead of the two shots currently prescribed for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Every reason to help them get started.
Meanwhile, in New York, politically linked unions representing transit workers and supermarket workers are calling on state officials to be considered “ essential workers. ” (See The New York Times December 20, 2020 article).
But cancer doctors complain that they are in the dark about who to call or when they will receive vaccines.
Ditto for doctors treating patients with other illnesses.
A Westchester woman tells me she is concerned about her husband. He is 71, has type 1 diabetes and two heart stents, and travels to New York City on Metro North. His doctors don’t know when they will receive vaccines. She says, “I can’t believe 20-year-old supermarket employees are getting it for him.”
Both the Federal Vaccine Committee and Cuomo defend prioritizing “essential” workers because it means that more minorities should be vaccinated. Cuomo claims that “black, Hispanic, Asian and low-income communities paid the highest price during COVID-19. “Politically, that’s a handy exaggeration.
According to the data, minorities are only slightly more affected by COVI-19 than other people. In New York State, excluding New York City, Hispanics make up 12% of the population and 12% of COVID-19 deaths, while blacks make up 9% of the population and 15% of deaths.
Likewise, in New York City, blacks and Hispanic minorities have suffered more deaths proportionality than whites, but only by a few percentage points. Asians had fewer deaths (7%) than their 14% share of the population.
The truth is, COVID-19 is an equal opportunity killer. It’s the slaughter of cancer patients, regardless of their skin color, and politicians are doing everything it can.
Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., chairs the committee to reduce deaths from infection. Read more of Betsy McCaughey’s reports – right here now.
© 2020 Newsmax. All rights reserved.