COVID-19 Scientific Communications and Comments
COVID-19 Booster Vaccine Equity for Patients With Cancer
COVID-19 has caused greater than 300 million documented infections worldwide including over 5 million confirmed deaths. Patients with cancer are particularly vulnerable due to a combination of disease and therapy-related effects. Available vaccines were highly effective against the original viral strains in clinical trials. However, initial vaccination efforts in this vulnerable population were impacted by federal policy that created substantial vaccine scarcity and allocation difficulties by recommending prioritization of unmanageably large patient populations including the entire elderly population and patients over the age of 16 with broadly defined, high-risk medical conditions (including cancer).The COVID-19 & Cancer Consortium (CCC19) and Opportunities for Radiation Oncology
To date, there are more than 38,000,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide, with over 1,000,000 deaths.1 In the United States, there have been over 14,100,000 confirmed cases, with over 276,000 deaths.1 This disease is highly infectious, especially because asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals can transmit the virus.2,3 During the pandemic, extensive public health measures have been taken to limit exposure of both staff and patients to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, including physical distancing and quarantine.
