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Back in the fight to get vaccinated as a priority issue in January, cancer patients are already celebrating a small victory today. People whose active treatment ended 60 months ago, that is, 5 years, and not only up to 24 months, as before March 25, were also included in the vaccination lists. Among other things, of course, those who are actively treating the disease are also vaccinated.
However, Neringa Čiakienė, director of the Cancer Patient Support Association (POLA), does not hide that the situation is not rewarding, because vaccination, although it belongs, still bypasses the sick for one reason or another.
“From what we hear, the signals that come to us, the situation is very different. After all, the stories of cancer patients are different: some of them who have just got sick are receiving treatment, so they must receive vaccinations and, in most cases, they are contacted and invited to register. However, there is a problem with those people whose oncological diagnosis is made a little earlier and the system itself does not identify that they need to be vaccinated.
Because, until the vaccination priority order was updated, only people who were less than 24 months old at the end of treatment were included. After all, the duration of treatment is very different: for some it lasts from 1 to 1.5 years, for some – 3 years. The situations are very different and cannot be traced by disease code. Because there are only 200 oncological diseases, and the disease code does not depend on the disease, so their system does not invite them ”, he commented on the situation.
The above calls for age, not illness.
According to the interlocutor, although the priorities seem to be ordered in order of precedence and arranged in such a way that oncology patients should be invited first, and only then should people go according to age groups, but in reality it is a little different.
“In some places, the first calls are made according to age groups and only later according to oncological diseases. Because the vaccination of cancer patients still in the initial stage was entrusted to the institutions that treat these diseases, there are 6 of them and each had its own procedure and system. Only the National Cancer Institute (IMI) had a reciprocal registration system (both from inviting institution and from patient to patient), in other places only the institutions themselves invited.
This is what we encourage people to try to contact themselves if they don’t receive an invitation. But every day we receive letters, messages about why my wives or sisters are not vaccinated, even though they see much younger people being vaccinated. So the situation is problematic, because it is difficult to answer why this is the case, as well as to know if a person is not really on the priority list or is not there for organizational reasons ”, he said.
Offers to vaccinate everyone
According to N. Čiakienė, the best solution in this situation would be to allow vaccination of all cancer patients, since, according to her, even the IMI faced situations where it was not clear according to the algorithm whether the vaccine belongs to one person or not.
“It just came to our knowledge then. However, one of our suggestions was to vaccinate all cancer patients. So it would be very simple, because all cancer diseases have a disease code with the letter C, so everyone who has it and you are vaccinated. The more people survive for more than 5 years, the more people get vaccinated, they are basically in the period of active treatment, “said a POLA representative.
In Lithuania, around 110 thousand people suffer from cancer diseases. population. According to N. Čiakienė, about 36 thousand. of which enter the treatment of graduates up to 24 months. group.
“If you include the group of people who finished treatment for 5 years or more, those figures, even according to statistics, who survive for more than 10 years, are a third of them, that is, about 30,000. And everyone else is in the under-10s. Others fall by priority of age above 65 years. Therefore, the total number of vaccinated patients is no longer that high. Therefore, we will continue these conversations with the Ministry ”, said the representative of the patients.
It would speed up the process
According to the interlocutor, the vaccination of all cancer patients would facilitate the updating of the GPs and would speed up the process in general, since it would be possible to vaccinate all automatically according to the disease code.
“It is often difficult for family doctors to know if a person has a vaccine or not, it is often said that when it comes to age, then we will get vaccinated.
But now, on the priority list, it’s even higher for those 65 and older. priority, patients with oncological diseases are below. However, under 65 years of age. people are working, many of them work in contact work – these are hairdressers, salespeople, drivers. Not all of them really do office work, but they are at the end of the vaccination, ”said N. Čiakienė.
He said that the organization of vaccinations is hampered by less or less public transportation.
“For example, in Lazdijai there was no transport for a long time. Is this how people get to Vilnius or Kaunas itself? That is what they are waiting for when they can get vaccinated in their centers, but when they call the family doctor, they say that now We are registering by age group, not by type of disease. Calling another place implies, so the situation is not the same. The problem is that the order is not centralized and the municipalities, naturally, some manage better, others worse ”, affirmed the head of POLA.
IMI: patients are more likely to want to be vaccinated closer to home
According to the chemotherapist responsible for the coordination of vaccination IMI dr. Edita Baltruškevičienė, the vaccination of patients at the institution began on February 11 this year and more than 2730 patients have already been vaccinated with COVID-19, of which more than 900 received the second dose of the vaccine.
“From the beginning of the vaccination process, we have tried to inform patients about the possibility of vaccination by all means. To allay patient fears, we provided information on the benefits and safety of vaccines and sought to adjust the timing of the vaccine to the treatment being applied. These measures ensured a smooth vaccination process. Contact with treating doctors gave patients a sense of security and most of those who wanted to get vaccinated had already done so successfully, “said a hospital spokeswoman.
According to her, patients have recently increasingly chosen to be vaccinated closer to home, in primary care centers or municipalities.
“We fully understand and support their wish. If active treatment is used, patients are always encouraged to consult and discuss the most appropriate time for vaccination during a visit to the treating physician or by phone. If active monitoring is applied , vaccines can be administered at any time, ”said E. Baltruškevičienė.
Invite those who doubt to get vaccinated
The doctor did not hide the fact that, despite all the information provided, a significant number of people still doubted or refused the vaccine.
“I would suggest that patients discuss their fears with their doctors and decide to get vaccinated. Because it is cancer patients who are at the highest risk of developing severe and complicated COVID-19 disease. With the new vaccination schedule coming into effect today, vaccination options for cancer patients have been further expanded.
Vaccination was available up to 60 months after active cancer treatment. So, I would like to encourage patients to take advantage of this opportunity once again, apply to their primary health care or cancer care facilities and get vaccinated, “said the specialist.
If the disease recurs, the vaccine would be more than 5 years old.
The Ministry of Health (SAM), when asked if it is planned to prioritize all cancer patients, said that decisions on the formation of priority groups are made by a council of experts dependent on the Government.
“To protect the most vulnerable, we have taken into account that cancer disease together with COVID-19 is more dangerous for the elderly, which is why the number of people under 65 has been supplemented. age group with new sub-item 1.17.10 .: people with oncological disease who have passed more than 24 months but not more than 60 months after active treatment and / or remission of the disease. When the disease recurs, a period of active treatment begins, which is already planned with higher priority, ”says the Ministry’s response.
The portal tv3.lt recalls that currently the elderly population is vaccinated in Lithuania and, in addition, the priority group includes all people who work or provide services in educational institutions, trainers and graduates who go to Lithuanian diplomatic missions, etc.
The last priority group, before moving to vaccinate the rest of society, are individuals who perform vital state functions and come into contact with others. This category includes internal service officials: police officers, firefighters, border guards, prison and public security officials, customs officials, and Security Management Service officials. Likewise, the personnel of the National Public Health Center who ensure the control of compliance with the measures of the quarantine regime, the soldiers and recruits and the personnel who attend to them.
According to data from the Department of Statistics on Wednesday, 5,575 people received the first dose of the vaccine on Tuesday, and 5,976 people received the second dose of the vaccine. 458 people, both – 158 thousand. 925.
642 thousand were received in Lithuania. 365 doses of vaccine, 565 thousand. 765 were delivered to vaccination centers, of which 495 thousand were used. 383.
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