Cancer Patients and COVID-19 Vaccine

Cancer Patients and COVID-19 Vaccine

Everyone knows that the current approach to prevent COVID-19 is campaigning for everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19 together with using a mask, proper hand washing, and proper social distancing. Do you know that there is a group of people who are trying to adapt to the situation of the Covid era with challenges? They are cancer patients which is a group of people with weaker immune systems than normal people and is at risk of contracting various complications, including COVID-19. Cancer patients therefore have questions to ask doctors in Oncology Clinic often.

Should cancer patients be vaccinated and when?

This question is often asked due to the new news and events of COVID-19, as well as the surge of information from social media. However, as each patient's condition is different, doctors often say that patients should seek advice and advice from a medical professional doctor individually before deciding to get vaccinated for personal evaluations. For example, patients who are on chemotherapy should be vaccinated only at the time when their white blood cells are within normal limits or patients with cancer who are about to undergo surgery should receive the COVID-19 vaccine at least 1 week after surgery in order to prevent complications caused by the vaccine, such as fever, which will postponed the surgery . One of the most concerning cases for doctors is when cancer patients are immunocompromised from high-dose chemotherapy or a case of leukemia or bone marrow transplant. These patients may have to wait for their immunity to come back to normal before vaccination.

how to choose a treatment or vaccination place

As cancer patients are considered to be with a weak immune and prone to complications, patients should consider whether the hospital or vaccination center is clean and safe, there are social distancing, adequate hand washing points, and isolation measures for COVID-19 patients are in place which meet international standards are implemented for the safety of both the patient, the Family and the caregiver. Regarding cancer treatment, consideration should be given to places where there are sufficient beds to provide medical treatment, whether surgery or chemotherapy, to treat cancer patients in order to be able to receive treatment in a timely manner.

Article by:

Prof. Emeritus Dr. Sumitra Thongprasert