Dialysis patients above 18 years should get priority for Covid vaccine: Doctors

Bengaluru: In the background of the surge in Covid cases, the Government of India has relaxed the age limit for vaccination allowing all people above 45 to get vaccinated. City-based doctors say that 30% of the dialysis patients are below 45 years of age and they must be allowed to receive vaccination as they are at a higher risk compared to normal population.

These patients suffer severe form of Covid if they are infected. Since a significant number of patients are under the age 45 doctors opine that all dialysis patients above 18 years of age must be allowed to receive vaccination. Mortality rate is very high in this subgroup of comorbidity. Vaccination gives them an opportunity to protect themselves against any inadvertent infections which they might contract.

"Presently people above age 45 are being vaccinated. But there are a significant number of the patients below the age of 45 who are undergoing dialysis. As the second wave is on the rise, dialysis patients are at a higher risk than normal population. Hence it is important that dialysis patients must get vaccinated as soon as possible," said Dr Suriraju. V, Chief Urologist at Regal Hospital.

"Dialysis patients are more prone to get infected by Covid as they visit hospital frequently. Mortality rate is higher among these people, which is usually less than 1% among normal population. But with dialysis patients it is up to 10 – 15%. So it is very important that dialysis patients get vaccinated," he opined.

"Some dialysis patients are finding it difficult to reach places where vaccine is available. If vaccination is done at same center where they undergo dialysis vaccination number will go up. Also mass education is important to increase awareness in the society," Suriraju elaborated.

He said that majority of the dialysis patients visiting his hospital have been vaccinated. Around 25 dialysis patients have already been vaccinated and another 25-30 patients are waiting for a shot. "The limit is 200 people per day. We are able to reach that number at the end of every day. But many centers are not receiving even 100 people per day," he said.

"The government has done its best job by setting up good number of vaccination centers. Also the healthcare workers are enthusiastic to vaccinate the public. Since the number of people visiting the centers is also very low, the efforts and resources being put into the process is going waste. Hence I urge government to open vaccination process to all above the age 18 so that we can utilize the resources to the best possible level," he added

Dr Jagadish, Medical Director of Ace Suhas Multi Speciality Hospital, said "The number of dialysis patients getting vaccinated is comparatively lower. Also an important factor could be that most of the patients could be below age 45. The rule states that all those above age 45 can get vaccinated. But in the cases of renal failure, cancer survivors and post chemotherapy patients government must relax the rule and allow all patients with above said comorbidities to get vaccinated regardless of their age."

Dialysis patients fear vaccine side effects.

Many dialysis patients are reluctant to take vaccination as they fear after-effects like fever and other problems. Doctors urge dialysis patients to get vaccinated as it keeps them safe from Covid and does not show any side effects on them.

"Dialysis patients have a fear about taking vaccine. They think their situation might worsen if they take vaccine. We recommend all dialysis patients to take vaccines as soon as possible without any fear. But it is important that they take opinion from nephrologist before taking vaccine. We are vaccinating all dialysis patients coming to our hospital" said Dr. Suriraju.

"As such there is vaccine hesitancy. People with comorbidities like renal failure are always sacred of fever and infection. There is a notion that the fever that a person gets after vaccination will last longer in kidney failure patients. Actually it is their imagination but it is not so. But still they tend to persist with their thought process. This is one of the main reason why renal failure patients taking vaccinations is awkwardly low said Dr. Narasimhaiah, Urologist at Ace Suhas Multispeciality Hospital.

"There is no guarantee that vaccination will provide them protection from coronavirus. But there is enough to assure that vaccination reduces the severity and mortality to almost zero. Therefore we suggest patients with this comorbidity get vaccinated," he added.