, Columnist
How to Repair the Pandemic’s Damage to Cancer Care
As Covid-19 disrupted screening and treatment, it also revealed the best way to get back on track: by easing access to doctors.
Cancer didn’t shut down during the pandemic.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
In the pandemic’s third year, we are beginning to discern the total picture of Covid-19’s damage. Beneath the coronavirus’s own staggering death toll and the suffering it has inflicted lie many layers of collateral damage. One of the largest of these is Covid’s disruption to cancer prevention and care.
Cancer patients are among the most vulnerable to catching Covid, and if exposed they’re much more likely than other people to end up in the hospital or to die. They’re also among the least likely to benefit from vaccines, because cancer treatment weakens the immune response.