‘Number with COPD dying from the virus is believed to be relatively small – the reason is simple’

I have no doubt you could fill Croke Park with people who believe they should be vaccinated and vaccinated now.

Apart from the fact that it would be stupid to fill Croke Park for any reason in current circumstances, it’s pretty clear that many of those making such a claim have some justification when they demand urgent access to vaccination. They are in one or other group of people who are described as “vulnerable”.

If you have previously read my words here, you will know that I am in one such group. Or maybe two.

Winter Nights

I have stage four chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which, as I have said before, would be a lot less worrying if there was a stage five. But there isn’t.

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I am not alone living with COPD.

It is thought that up to 500,000 people in Ireland suffer from COPD to some degree – with 200,000 of those at the moderate or severe stage of the disease.

For that 200,000, any contact with coronavirus could very well be fatal.

Let me say that again.

Mask refusenik

For any of the 200,000 people in Ireland with moderate to severe COPD, any contact with the virus could very well be fatal.

So far, the number of those with COPD dying from the virus is unknown, but believed to be relatively small.

The reason is simple.

COPD sufferers are locked away. For most, it is just short of a year since they have had any interaction with anyone other than close family, those they live with or those who care for them. They have not been in shops. They didn’t eat out when it was permitted. They haven’t been walking in parks.

They have, in short, been imprisoned by this disease, aware that a touch of one infected door handle or a careless cough from a nearby mask refusenik could prove fatal.

There is no chance of them – us – using public transport.

I spoke last week to a respiratory doctor about the problem faced by those who suffer from respiratory complaints. Yes, he said, those with COPD and serious respiratory conditions should be higher up the list. But he acknowledged that there were many groups who had valid cases to be vaccinated and vaccinated soon.

He was, though, irked by those who suggested that maybe Olympic athletes should be given priority so that the Tokyo games could go ahead and, as those who make such a claim say, "give us all a lift".

He is equally irked by the suggestion that the solution to the Leaving Cert problem was to prioritise vaccination for the 60,000 students hoping to sit the examination this year.

Joan Johnston, national co-ordinator for COPD Support Ireland, is anxious for the thousands she represents to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

“Right now, they are prisoners. Many can’t or won’t leave their homes and haven’t left their homes for almost a year. It’s not living, it’s existing. They know that it won’t take much for them to catch the disease. And if they become infected, there is a very high chance that it could be fatal.

Vulnerable

“Part of the problem is that we have no idea how the priorities were decided. There was no transparency. There was certainly no consultation or communication with vulnerable groups. People with COPD spend their days and nights worried and afraid,” she said.

And she’s right.

I can attest to that. Because I’m one of them.

I said at the outset that I’m in not one group who might be prioritised but two.

I had a bone marrow transplant almost 13 years ago now and thank God I did, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.

But the upshot of that is, in addition to having COPD stage four, I am immunocompromised. Every month, I infuse myself with immunoglobulins through two needles which I have been trained to stick into my abdomen.

It’s routine now.

But the fear isn’t. The constant worry isn’t.

Many of the tens of thousands who have COPD also qualify for vaccination soon on two grounds, age, heart difficulties, cancer – whatever.

We can only hope and, indeed, pray that we won’t have to wait too much longer.

A peaceful, worry-free night’s sleep would be a joy.

We’re not looking for special treatment.

Just treatment.