CDC: Immunocompromised people should be wary of virus even if vaccinated – KCRA Sacramento

Just over a month since California’s reopening, COVID-19 cases are back up, and among those struggling are immunocompromised individuals like Sandy Fuller and Fran Vaquera, who say that they live in fear and anxiety despite being fully vaccinated.Leer en español”The hypervigilance that someone like me has to have is exhausting and it’s all the time. Even using public restrooms,” Fuller said.As COVID-19 took the world by surprise, Fuller was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis spring 2020.”It’s heartbreaking. I miss my grandkids and they can’t be vaccinated.”The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued a warning for individuals who are immunocompromised or who are taking medications due to a weakened immune system to be cautious even if they’re fully vaccinated against COVID-19.Dr. Dean Blumberg, professor and chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, said even before the CDC’s update, health officials have already been counseling patients with weakened immune systems to take safety measures as if they weren’t vaccinated. “Those on chemotherapy, patients on dialysis — those patients may not respond as well and may not be protected as well after being vaccinated and may be at continued risk for breakthrough infections,” Blumberg said.California’s COVID-19 positivity rate has increased to 4.1%, and the delta variant continues spreading at a higher rate than any other variant. In response, vulnerable individuals are being recommended to social distance, avoiding crowded and poorly ventilated places, and masking up, which is already recommended in several NorCal counties including Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, and Stanislaus.Related | More California counties recommend wearing masks inside amid delta variant concernsBoth Vaquera and Fuller agree that the past year-and-a-half has been rough, and have not let their guard down even after being fully vaccinated. They’re hopeful that others — even those immunized — can also continue wearing face coverings. “I appreciate that it’s recommended because I can’t be the only person in Sacramento County that has had cancer or suffers from a compromised immune system. There are many, many people that are not being considered.”Current statewide data shows an uptick in the COVID-19 case rate to 6.9 new cases per 100,000 people — almost doubling from last week’s numbers.In the meantime, more research is being done.”One of the things that’s really exciting is that we’re starting to get data on doing blood tests to correlate levels of immunity,” Blumberg said. “Once we have that we can actually test somebody after they’ve been vaccinated, and we’d be able to predict if they’re immune or not, and then we would have more data and we would just say, ‘Oh you’ve had a good immune response, go out and about and live your life and don’t worry about masking,’ for example. Other people may have weaker immune responses and we’d say, ‘Oh, you need an extra dose of the vaccine to boost your immunity,’ so those are the kind of advances that we need to have.”The CDC is researching the safety and efficacy of additional doses for COVID-19 vaccines in immunocompromised individuals.