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Summertime and the living is easy, the fish are jumping and Covid infections are no longer high
With apologies to Gershwin, the classic jazz hit Summertime sums up how most of us are feeling about the prospect of a much less restricted holiday season this year. With mandatory lifestyle restrictions but a bad memory, it’s time to have fun.
Unfortunately that’s not the case for everyone. Some three in 20 people remain at risk from serious illness if they contract Covid-19. A Health Service Executive publicity campaign points out that we don’t always know who is at risk of Covid-19 and other viruses, but we do know how to protect them.
Dr Colm Henry, HSE chief clinical officer, says: "We know that older people and people with some conditions are more at risk from Covid-19 and we've worked together to protect them since the start of the pandemic. About 15 per cent of our population falls into this 'at risk' category but the reality is we're not always going to know when we're out and about who these people are. What puts them at risk might not be visible to you.
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“They could be early in their pregnancy, about to start cancer treatment, on dialysis or have diabetes. That’s why it’s so important to keep doing what we know protects them, not just from Covid-19 but from other viruses that can put them at risk of serious illness.”
Immunocompromised people
About 2.5 per cent of the population are immunocompromised and are at particular risk. They have conditions called immunodeficiencies, where part of their immune system is missing or not functioning as well as it might. Immunodeficiencies vary in severity; the moderate-to-severe end of the spectrum includes serious forms of primary immunodeficiencies, untreated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, organ or bone marrow transplant recipients, and people treated with chemotherapy or high doses of immunosuppressive drugs. Significantly immunocompromised people are susceptible to more severe and prolonged illness with Covid-19.
Immunocompromised people face a double-whammy from Covid-19: their compromised immune systems can’t fight off the infection effectively; and their immune systems are least likely to respond to vaccines.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 82 studies, published in the British Medical Journal recently, found organ transplant recipients and patients with solid cancers, blood cancers and certain inflammatory disorders had less antibody production after a first and second dose of Covid-19 vaccine compared with a control group. The research found people who had received a transplant were especially at risk of a diminished vaccine response. The authors concluded it was vital for this group to receive a third, and possibly further, doses of Covid-19 vaccine.
Transplant recipients
Organ transplant recipients taking anti-rejection drugs, cancer patients receiving active treatment, and people with primary immunodeficiency feel especially vulnerable now that mask mandates and social-distancing rules no longer apply.
People like Jan Rynne, a leukaemia patient and co-founder of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia Ireland (CLL Ireland), say that as immune-compromised patients, Covid-19 might be devastating for their health. "It would be really helpful if society would remember that Covid-19 is still a threat to some of us and it would help us to live our lives in a more normal way if others wore their masks in busy spaces and allowed for some personal space, for example, when queuing in shops or banks."
So fed up as 85 per cent of the population are with restrictions, a vulnerable 15 per cent of us are depending on the majority to continue some good health practices for our benefit.
If you can, please try and do the following: · Wear masks in crowded areas · Keep your hands clean · Keep rooms ventilated by opening windows or meeting outside · Get Covid-19 vaccines, and other vaccines when it's time · Stay at home if you are unwell.
Summertime living isn’t easy for everyone just yet.
mhouston@irishtimes.com