Cancer patient calls for vaccination in line with treatment

With vaccinations against COVID-19 continuing across Newfoundland and Labrador, one cancer patient in St. John's says the system could be improved for the province's immunocompromised residents.

Derek Thomas is undergoing therapy for advanced-stage cancer, and like others receiving chemotherapy, his white blood-cell count is periodically weakened, meaning he will need to receive the vaccine at a specific time in his treatment cycle.

"I need to get a shot in the cycle of my chemotherapy when my white blood cell count is at a high so that I can handle it," he told CBC News on Wednesday.

During his last round of chemotherapy, he said, at the end of a three-week cycle his white blood-cells were about 10 per cent the level of what a healthy adult would normally register, he said.

"So it's obvious that we need to get the vaccine at a point in our cycle when our blood cells are able to take it."

But people in Thomas's condition are also advised to avoid crowded public areas, which would include many of the city's vaccination centres.

Thomas has written a letter detailing his concerns to the province's top health officials, including the chief medical officer of health, the health minister and the premier.

Given their weakened immunity, he said, the province's cancer patients, and others with similarly compromised immune systems, should receive their vaccinations from their physicians at the centres where they receive ongoing treatment.

"The point of the letter is to advocate on behalf of people with cancer and with immunocompromised systems," said Thomas, "so that they can get a shot of a vaccine at a time that is appropriate in the cycle of their chemotherapy, or other treatment that they're having."

Thomas and his wife are in the 55-plus age range eligible to get a vaccine, and while his wife has already received hers Thomas is still waiting for a narrow window of time.

First-come, first-served

Ideally, said Thomas, being able to receive the vaccine directly from his oncologist would make the process easier for him and others who are waiting to be immunized.

"Unfortunately, right now the system is not set up so that people like me can do that.… It's almost like a first-come, first-served basis," he said.

"What I'd like to see, and what I'm advocating for, is that patients be able to get a shot from the oncology department, or the Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre."

Health Minister Dr. John Haggie said during Wednesday's COVID briefing that those in need of treatments like chemotherapy will be able to receive vaccines in line with them.

"Certainly for those groups who receive facility-based care, my understanding is that, dialysis and chemotherapy being the two principal examples, these individuals would be offered a vaccine at the time they attend for their regular scheduled visit to whatever facility it is," said Haggie.

"More than likely in St. John's, the dialysis patients would receive it through the kidney centre, and the chemotherapy patients through whichever facility was providing their chemotherapy."

While there may be few in his position, Thomas said, he hopes immunocompromised individuals will begin receiving their vaccines in the safest way possible, so that they can focus on their more immediate health concerns.

"We'd like to get an opportunity to survive this pandemic and the variants so that we can deal with the other complications from the underlying disease that we have."

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