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Some people with underlying health conditions receive conflicting advice on when to get the Covid-19 vaccine, as the HSE moves to offer it to vulnerable people.
Starting next week, the HSE will offer the vaccine to people over the age of 16 who are immunosuppressed and at very high risk of serious illness due to Covid-19.
However, for people like Aoife P Rafter in Naas, Co Kildare, it is unclear whether her illnesses would qualify her as high enough risk to be included in this fourth cohort of vaccinated patients.
“I’ve been talking to many people who are in similar situations to mine, and our GPs tell us differently than our own consultants,” he said. “Like, ‘oh no, you’re in cohort four,’ ‘oh no, you’re in cohort seven.’
Ms. Rafter is a health and wellness blogger who has cystic fibrosis and recently completed radiation therapy for cervical cancer in January 2020.
“The way they are dividing vulnerable people is completely unethical,” he said. “They tell us that they are giving the vaccine to the people who need it most, but without including people like me in cohort four, that leaves us behind.
“Many people have not even been able to have certain tests that would show if they are still immunosuppressed or if they have cystic fibrosis stable enough, because how could we know that when our appointments have been changed?”
Cohort four includes people with severe cystic fibrosis. However, for some people it is not clear how severe is severe enough. Ms. Rafter, for example, has lungs that work quite well and as such is in a grayer area. “It depends on how they judge stable cystic fibrosis,” he said. “My lung function is pretty high, it’s like 87% or 90%, depending on the week.
“I’m not a transplant patient either, so I wouldn’t be as immunosuppressed as those people. That is why it is not even very clear. You don’t even know who to ask, who to turn to for guidance. “
Like many vulnerable people, Ms. Rafter has had to take shelter since the beginning of the pandemic, which has been difficult at times. For her, the vaccine would remove a lot of stress that is left due to fear of contracting the virus.
“The fear is enormous,” he said. “Just to feel safe in San Vicente when I need to go there for treatment or a checkup, that would change my life. It’s really hard to make those calls to find out and assess the risks go to the hospital, when there is Covid in the hospital, instead of staying home and letting an infection get worse.
“For our [cocooners] situation in general, I don’t think the average person understands what it means for people like us. They do not understand how serious it is and how it is affecting our health situation in general. “
Irish independent
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