By Elizabeth Chuck -
NBC News
Fatal COVID-19 infections among people who have been fully vaccinated, such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell, are rare.
But experts say such deaths show the need for
society as a whole to protect the most vulnerable
: the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.
Powell, who died Monday from complications from the coronavirus, met both high-risk criteria.
The former secretary of state was 84 years old and suffered from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer in which malignant plasma cells exceed the space normally reserved for normal plasma cells that fight infection.
Your
cancer may have made you particularly susceptible
: Multiple myeloma not only robs the body of its ability to resist infection, it
can
also
interfere with the effectiveness of a vaccine
.
Research published in the journal Nature in July on multiple myeloma patients found that only 45% developed an "adequate response" to mRNA vaccines against the coronavirus.
[A poll reveals what's behind the new wave of vaccination in the US]
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell suffered from a type of cancer that weakens the immune system.Shawn Thew / AP
"
The coronavirus has been our worst nightmare,
" said Dr. Paul Richardson, clinical program leader and director of clinical research at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
"Not only are patients vulnerable to infection in the first place, even despite being vaccinated, but when they do get infected, their immune systems are so dysfunctional that they get the worst of both worlds [the virus and the immune response]" he explained.
Compared to the number of
deaths that have occurred among people who have not been vaccinated, which now exceeds 722,000
, deaths among those immunized are negligible.
Among the more than 187 million people who have been fully vaccinated in the United States, there have been only 7,178 deaths from coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
And 85% of the deaths occurred in people 65 and older.
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Age has always been a contributing factor to the level of severity that an infection with coronavirus
and many other viruses can have, said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
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“As we age, our physical cells become less robust.
They become more fragile and that can also happen with our immune system, "he said.
"If you add to that, of course, the underlying disease, that's a double whammy for the immune system," he said.
The hope, Schaffner said, is that COVID-19 booster shots in people 65 and older will increase the amount of antibodies they have, giving them longer-lasting protection.
At the moment, booster doses are available for people 65 and older and other high-risk people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Extra doses for other people over 65 are expected to be approved soon.
It was not clear if Powell had received an extra vaccine, but experts said he likely would have qualified for the extra dose that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized for certain groups of immunosuppressed people in August.
A shared responsibility
Powell's death reflects why everyone has a responsibility to do their part to end the pandemic, said Dr. Khalilah Gates, associate professor of pulmonary and critical care at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
With a fictitious funeral home they call the attention of those not vaccinated against COVID-19 to do so
Sept.
22, 202100: 33
“
When we talk about vaccines, it is not just about us as individuals
.
It's about those people in our communities and in our society who are most vulnerable: our elderly and our children, ”he said, referring to children under 12 for whom the vaccine has not yet been approved.
"We have a responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves," he said.
The role of vaccines is not only to protect the individual, but also to create a "cocoon of protection" so that the virus cannot reach vulnerable people, Schaffner said.
Not getting vaccinated, he said, “is like when someone comes to a traffic light and runs a red light.
Yes, he takes a certain degree of risk to himself, but he puts others at risk ”.
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Powell's death shouldn't deter anyone from getting vaccinated if they haven't already, Schaffner said, adding that more than 90% of people admitted to his hospital for coronavirus are not vaccinated.
"Vaccines are not perfect," he said.
"But the vaccine shifts the odds in your favor from having a serious illness to being protected from a serious illness."