ISTANBUL – Cancer patients should be prioritised in the COVID-19 vaccination schedule as they are in the highest risk group, a Turkish doctor said on Wednesday.
“Fatalities due to COVID-19 among cancer patients are higher than in all other groups. Cancer patients, who are in the highest risk group for the virus, must have priority in the vaccination calendar,” Anadolu Agency quoting Dr. Yavuz Anacak, the head of the Turkish Radiation Oncology Association, said in a statement ahead of the World Cancer Day.
It added that Alsancak also urged all authorities to prioritise cancer patients in the vaccination schedule.
Underlining that cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, he said 18 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year and nearly 10 million people die due to cancer in the world.
“Those patients contracting the virus are struggling to overcome both cancer and COVID-19,” he said, adding that weakening of immunity caused by cancer, severe surgical operations, radiotherapy and chemotherapy processes also adversely affect people diagnosed with COVID-19.
Turkey began a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan 14, starting with healthcare workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines.
Since early December, Turkey has also been implementing curfews on nights and weekends to curb the spread of the virus.
The pandemic has so far claimed more than 2.25 million lives in 192 countries and regions since it emerged in December 2019, according to the US’ Johns Hopkins University.
More than 103.87 million cases and over 57.67 million recoveries have been reported worldwide.
Ministry ready
The Health Ministry (MOH) meanwhile is prepared to implement the first phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Plan, once the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are in Malaysia on Feb 26, said Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
He said the vaccine delivery dry runs to Belaga Health Clinic in Sarawak on Jan 29 and Bintulu Hospital on Jan 30 went smoothly without any problems.
He said the test runs were to ensure the supply of vaccines from the US pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, in Puurs, Belgium could be kept at ultra-low temperatures throughout the journey to Malaysia.
“The dry run is important and the input data logger which monitors the delivery process showed satisfactory results,” he told reporters after introducing the online teaching application on COVID-19, here today.
Dr Adham said the COVID-19 vaccine storage for the first phase, equipped with facilities such as the ultra low temperature freezer (ULTF) was to ensure that the vaccines are maintained at the correct temperature before being removed and distributed to vaccination sites which have been identified.
On the COVID-19 educational application, Dr Adham said the idea mooted by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) biochemist and global issue analyst Peter Chew, was to create awareness on how to survive and protect from being infected with COVID-19.
“It is important to give basic education to the community, especially those who live far from health facilities so that they will take heed of the new norms such as physical distancing, wear a face mask, wash their hands often and avoid crowded places during an outbreak,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chew said the silent carriers were the cause of the widespread transmission during COVID-19 second wave in Malaysia and as such basic education is important and measures must be taken to curb spread of infection as well as to reduce medical expenses.
The educational platform can be accessed at https://youtu.be/uU89i8uO5Qs, http://youtu.be/OhDH_h3jCxs and http://youtu.be/z1YHIWrvuwY.
