Posted on June 22, 2022
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Most experts agree that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine for people with kidney disease at any stage, including those on dialysis or those with a kidney transplant are much greater than the risks of getting COVID. Some studies point to extremely high short term mortality from COVID that could be higher than 20 percent.
Despite this, some patients and their family members are concerned that the vaccine might make their loved ones sick as their immune systems are already down.
Currently, it is estimated that 35,000 need dialysis in the Philippines, and that the number increases by 15% every year. Dialysis is a temporizing intervention and kidney replacement therapy or transplantation is the preferred course of management. Advocacy for resources and support for strong organ donation programs need to be sustained, given the increase in numbers of patients with chronic renal disease. Prevention - of course, identification of risk, early diagnosis and referral are all key pathways for addressing the problem of kidney disease in the country.
The COVID pandemic has put an additional strain on patients with kidney disease. Earlier on, there was limited access to dialysis centers that accept COVID+ patients. Many patients missed their dialysis schedule because of lockdowns. When vaccination was introduced, immunocompromised patients were identified as high priority for receiving the vaccine. New hope emerged with the introduction of the vaccination program.
But questions linger in the minds of patients, families and even frontline workers regarding how safe it is to give vaccines and boosters to patients who are immunocompromised due to chronic renal disease, or to patients who are undergoing treatment for cancer, for example. Do patients with kidney disease have the same level of protection of the vaccines as people who don't have kidney disease? Are there additional precautions that are needed when administering vaccines to patients with chronic renal disease? Can transplant patients receive the COVID-19 vaccine?
In this episode of Stop C.O.V.I.D. Deaths we take a closer look at COVID-19 vaccination for patients with kidney disease and in particular those who have had a transplant. While this is a relatively smaller population of patients - it is often encountered and frontliners should be equipped with information to guide families on a course of action to address their concerns. The main speaker is Dr. Romina Danguilan, Head of the Hemodialysis Unit at the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI), currently the Deputy Executive Director for Education, Training and Research Services, who will provide an overview of chronic renal disease in the Philippines, the challenges of the pandemic for dialysis centers and the most recent findings of research on vaccine effectiveness among transplant patients at the NKTI. The second speaker is Dr. Cybele R. Abad, Clinical Associate Professor at the UP Philippine General Hospital and an expert on Infectious Diseases who will talk about breakthrough infections of COVID-19 among the vaccinated kidney transplant patients. Synthesis and Closing Remarks will be delivered by Dr. Stella Marie L. Jose, Deputy Director for Health Operations at UP Philippine General Hospital.
Join us in another exciting webinar on COVID-19 with the country’s top experts in renal disease in the country! You are hearing this first through the STOP C.O.V.I.D. DEATHS webinar of your credible on-line community.
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