A total of 2,314 people from the so-called high-risk group are summoned today to be vaccinated at the Vigo Fair Institute (Ifevi). Among them are people who have undergone a transplant, who are receiving renal replacement treatment (hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis), with oncohematological disease in the last 5 years or not controlled, people with solid organ cancer with metastasis or treatment with chemotherapy or radiation therapy, people with primary immunodeficiencies, with HIV, and users with Down syndrome who are over 40 years of age.
According to the National Immunization Strategy, these people should be vaccinated in parallel with the 70-79 year old population and are scheduled to receive Pfizer, Moderna, or if available from Janssen.
Patient groups such as the Vigo delegation of the Spanish Association against Cancer expressed their satisfaction with the fact that it is the turn of these patients. The president of the association, Ángeles Pazos, understands that there are many groups to be vaccinated, that the doses received are scarce and that the elderly were the ones who ran the fastest because they were also the population group in which it was registered the highest mortality from the virus. At the same time, it seems reasonable to him that highly exposed groups because they have contact with many people such as teachers should also have priority.
On the other hand, he explains that within the association there are people who already had the disease years ago and would have the same risk as the general population, and those who are currently undergoing treatment who are the most vulnerable. “Most of them in this situation do not normally work, they are at home, but any little thing they take can do them a lot of harm,” he says.
Asked about cancer care during the pandemic, Ángeles Pazos affirms that the treatments continued normally but that there were delays in diagnoses because many people did not dare to go to the hospital for fear of the covid. “They had symptoms but they didn’t know they were cancer and they came later than they should.” On the other hand, he regrets that during the pandemic the breast and colon cancer screening programs were stopped because “they save many lives” and adds that now that the people who receive the letter to participate are working again, “they should not throw it away, no it costs nothing to get tested, it is simple and the difference can be between living or dying ”. Remember that early-stage cancer heals better and prevents a bad outcome.
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