Published Dec 22, 2020

Leading Cancer Centers Say They Are Happy with Vaccine Rollout Within Medical Community

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Vaccine Rollout Effective in Medical Community

With the COVID-19 vaccine becoming available, many in the medical community questioned whether doctors, nurses, and other frontline workers would receive the vaccine quickly and effectively.
SurvivorNet spoke to a number of leading cancer institutes who said they are satisfied with the vaccine’s rollout and confident that all medical personnel, regardless of rank, would be able to get vaccinated.
The COVID-19 vaccine is safe for most cancer patients. Talk with your doctor about whether the vaccine could be right for you.

The end of the pandemic may be in sight as two COVID-19 vaccines have now been approved. For doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, the question many are facing is whether they’ll be able to receive the vaccine soon as they continue to care for the sick.

SurvivorNet set out to investigate the distribution of vaccines to healthcare workers at several large institutions across the United States.

Although nothing is perfect, we are proud to report that attempts to include those who are both front-line workers and essential to the hospital have largely been successful at the majority of institutions we spoke with.

Vaccine for All?

Despite fears that vaccines would not be distributed to junior faculty, house staff, nursing staff, and all of the essential hospital supportive services, this fear has largely been unrealized among the people SurvivorNet spoke with.

Undoubtedly, some workers who were not included in the first wave may feel slighted. However, we recognize the impossible task of prioritizing and distributing the vaccine in healthcare systems with thousands of employees.

In facilities where there was not enough vaccines available, some systems have taken other approaches including having staff continue to work remotely until they are able to receive the vaccine.

SurvivorNet salutes our healthcare workers in these difficult times and is reassured that those within our vulnerable systems are receiving the vaccine as it becomes available.

Cancer & the COVID-19 Vaccine

For many people, getting the COVID-19 vaccine seems to be an easy way to end the worry about contracting the virus. But for people who are undergoing treatment or are immunosuppressed from it, is the vaccine safe?

"At this time, we feel that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would be safe for cancer patients and survivors since it is not a live vaccine," Joleen Hubbard, MD, told SurvivorNet in a recent interview. "There are other vaccines being developed that are live, so patients undergoing active treatment should not receive those if they make it to market.”

The approved vaccine doesn’t contain a live version of the COVID-19 virus. Rather, it uses genetic material called mRNA to trigger your body’s immune system to attack the virus if it enters your body. This is good news if you are immunocompromised because of recent chemotherapy, as a more traditional vaccine that contained live virus could end up getting you sick.

"The vaccines being studied with mRNA and DNA don't produce live virus,” Dr. Scott Weisenberg, an infectious disease specialist at NYU Langone Health, recently told SurvivorNet. “So they are not dangerous from that standpoint as opposed to a measles virus, which contains live virus, so you couldn't get it if you were on cancer chemotherapy because the vaccine would be dangerous."

Talk to your doctor about getting vaccinated against COVID-19. While it will be safe for the majority of patients, some people currently in clinical trials might need to avoid the vaccine due to possible bad interactions.

It's Important To Continue Cancer Screenings Through COVID-19

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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