Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors Are Reluctant to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine; What Survivors Need to Know About the Vaccine

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The study’s participants (342 in total) were 18 or older, and were diagnosed with cancer from 15-39 years old. The study also showed that female survivors and survivors with a high school education (or less), showed greater hesitancy than male participants or those with a college education or higher.

And among Hispanic participants, 52.9% showed vaccine hesitancy, compared to 31.6% of white participants.

Covid-19 Vaccine & Cancer

The COVID-19 vaccine is an effective way to prevent getting a severe case of the coronavirus, which can cause death. For cancer fighters and survivors, getting the vaccine can better protect your overall health.

Related: Which COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer, Moderna or J&J is Best For Cancer Patients?

People battling cancer may have a blunted immune system if they are going through chemotherapy, making them more susceptible to COVID-19. That’s why it’s so important to get the vaccine.

Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic, encourages people to get the vaccine, emphasizing the safety of it for cancer patients and survivors. “It is very safe and there is no increased risk to you just because you have cancer,” he says.

"As long as you are feeling well, just go ahead with the vaccine whenever it's offered to you,” says Dr. Rajkumar. “Sometimes even on the same day if you are going to the clinic to get a small dose of chemotherapy and they're giving the vaccine, just get it, there's really no major problem.”

5 COVID-19 Vaccine Questions Answered by Expert Physician

COVID’s Impact on Cancer Surgeries & Treatment

For survivors and fighters, it’s important to continue ongoing cancer treatment, as well as scans for those in remission. The pandemic has inarguably made many things more difficult, and it’s also impacted hospital protocols, too. Thankfully, hospitals have taken extra safety precautions during COVID-19 so you can feel safer going to the hospital during the pandemic.

Related: A Nurse Practitioner Who Just Survived Breast Cancer Is Back In The Hospital Helping Patients During Coronavirus

In an earlier interview, Dr. Kimberly Levinson, a gynecologic oncologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, explained some of the changes that have taken place. She says, “I think the major things that patients may experience in terms of the changes with surgery in this time of COVID-19 is that there are limitations in visitors to the hospitals, which I think is a big deal for many patients and is a change in terms of just having that support system in the hospital.”

Related: 'It's Been a Hard, Devastating Road': Breast Cancer Survivor Rita Wilson, 64, Reflects on the Pandemic; How To Cope With Hardship

“We have completely different procedures in terms of getting patients to the OR, getting patients asleep, and doing what we call intubation procedures, or getting patients on the ventilator for their surgery,” explains Dr. Levinson.

“Any of those procedures that require access to the airway system into the lungs,” she says, “are procedures which are higher risk in terms of if a patient were to be COVID-positive, the risk of exposure to health care providers and nurses and doctors in the room.”

COVID-19 Has Changed Surgery and Hospital Protocols for Cancer Patients

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