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Health
Factcheck: False. While some individuals who are immunocompromised do not have a robust enough immune system to develop an immune response to the vaccine and need to look to other treatments, those who are immunocompromised and have no contraindications and can mount a response to the vaccine can and should get vaccinated and boostered.
A nurse administers a COVID-19 booster shot at a vaccination site in Eastmonte Park, Altamonte Springs. The third shot was offered to immunocompromised individuals, with all of the more than 300 appointments filled on the first day the shots were available in Seminole County. (Photo by Paul Hennessy /Sipa via AP Images)
By HEATHER M. BUTTS, JD, MPH, MA
Special to the AmNews
The COVID-19 pandemic has been frightening enough for individuals who do not have underlying healthcare conditions. For those who are immunocompromised, that fear was heightened by the reality that contracting COVID-19 might mean an immediate trip to the hospital or ICU. Vaccines changed that for millions of immunocompromised people, and yet the myth that those individuals are unable to get vaccinated persists.
What does it mean to be immunocompromised? According to Yale Medicine, “It’s when your immune system isn’t working as well as it should to protect you from infection—or that your immune system can’t distinguish between normal and foreign cells.” Why is this important with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic? This can lead to an inability to mount an effective response to the COVID-19 vaccine, an inability to effectively defend against the COVID-19 virus, or a response to the virus that leads to a long-lasting, lengthy infection.
It is this last point that has some researchers particularly concerned as it relates to variants. According to research published in Nature Medicine and in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, “New research reveals that the many SARS-CoV-2 variants are likely formed in chronic COVID-19 patients who suffer from immunosuppression. The research suggests that a weakened antibody response, particularly in the lower airways of these chronic patients, may prevent full recovery from the virus and drive the virus to mutate many times during a lengthy infection. The virus’s ability to survive and reproduce in the
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