Explained: Covid vaccines in cancer patients

By Dr. Dhaneshwor Naorem
May 25, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic, continues to impact many people, including cancer patients, their families, and caregivers.Vaccines help a person’s immune system to recognize and protect the body against infections. COVID-19 vaccines have been found to significantly lower the risk of getting infected with COVID-19, lower the risk of having severe disease, being hospitalized, or dying from COVID-19 if one gets infected. 

Here we’ll discuss some frequently asked questions by people with cancer or a history of previous cancer have about the COVID-19 vaccines.

1) Should cancer patients and survivors take the COVID-19 vaccine?

Patients with cancer or a history of cancer should get the COVID -19 vaccine whenever available. Many expert medical groups recommend patients with a recent cancer diagnosis and those on treatment should be given the highest priority. This is because cancer and its treatment can weaken the immune system putting such patients at risk for severe COVID-19 disease. Caregivers and household members of cancer patients should also be immunized whenever possible.

2) Is it safe for cancer patients to receive the COVID-19 vaccine?

At present, there is a lack of data regarding the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination in cancer patients. Numerous studies have shown that cancer patients are at higher risk for more severe COVID-19 disease and complications. There are no reports of increased risk for side effects of the vaccine in cancer patients. The risks of COVID-19 for cancer patients outweigh the very low risk of vaccination. Because of these, oncology groups including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and the American Society for Radiation Oncology have all recommended patients with cancer get vaccinated.

3) Is there any specific approved COVID-19 vaccine for cancer patients?

At this time, no major medical organizations have recommended getting one type of COVID vaccine over another, either for cancer patients or for other people. Health experts believe that getting the vaccine once it becomes available, whichever one it is, is most important, rather than waiting to get a specific vaccine. 

4) What are the side effects of the vaccines?

Common side effects that have been reported after getting the vaccines to include:
• Pain, redness, or swelling at the injection site
• Feeling tired
• Headache
• Fever
• Chills
• Muscle and joint pain
• Nausea

The incidence or the nature of side effects in cancer patients and survivors had been reported to be similar to with the general population. 

Some people (16%) might develop swelling or pain under the vaccinated arm. This is often a normal response by the body’s immune system to the vaccine. A swollen lymph node under the arm might cause concern since this can also be a sign of breast cancer spread.

Oncologists recommend that patients with breast cancer or a history of breast cancer get the vaccine in the arm on the unaffected side.

5) Are there any exceptions for COVID-19 vaccination among cancer patients?

There are few exceptions:

a) Vaccination should be delayed for at least 3 months following bone marrow transplantation and engineered cellular therapy to maximize vaccine efficacy.

b) Vaccination in patients undergoing intensive chemotherapy should be delayed until neutrophil count recovery.

c) Patients undergoing major surgery for cancer should have a gap of few days in-between.

In patients undergoing chemotherapy, the optimum timing for vaccination about the chemotherapy cycle is still unclear. The difference in the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine in terms of its immunogenic potential i.e. ability to generate antibodies against coronavirus- SARS-COV-2, when administered along with chemotherapy versus mid-cycle, is still unknown. In absence of robust data, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for now recommends vaccination when available.

6) Will vaccination affect my cancer-related tests and scans?

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine might result in swollen lymph nodes under the arm in which the injection was given. Swollen lymph nodes might show up on a CT Scan or mammogram is done for breast cancer or other cancers, causing concern and confusion. It is important to communicate with your doctor if you are scheduled to get an imaging test (such as an MRI or CT scan) in the weeks after getting a COVID vaccine. 

7) Do I still need to take precautions if I get the COVID-19 vaccine?

While the vaccine can lower the risk of getting a serious disease from COVID, it doesn’t completely rule out the possibility of getting infected by the virus. It is also not yet clear how well vaccines can prevent the spread of the virus to others. Here it will be appropriate to mention that data tracking the immune response in patients with cancer who have been vaccinated are still evolving. Therefore, even after vaccination, it is advised that everyone continue to follow all COVID-19 prevention protocols.

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Agencies
November 22,2025

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New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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News Network
November 22,2025

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The Israeli regime’s forces have killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip every day since the ceasefire began in early October, UNICEF has warned.

The UN children’s agency said on Friday that Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in Gaza even though the agreement was meant to stop the killing.

“Since 11 October, while the ceasefire has been in effect, at least 67 children have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the Gaza Strip. Dozens more have been injured. That is an average of almost two children killed every day since the ceasefire took effect,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva, reminding that each number in the statistics represents a child whose life had ended violently.

“These are not statistics,” he said. “Each child had a story, a family, and a future that was stolen from them.”

Data from Palestinian factions, human rights groups, and government bodies recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire deal went into effect on October 10 show that Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks, each constituting a separate ceasefire violation.

UNICEF teams say they repeatedly continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of fearful Palestinian children sleeping outdoors with amputated limbs, while others live as orphans in flooded, makeshift shelters.

“I saw this myself in August. There is no safe place for them. The world cannot normalize their suffering,” Pires said, lamenting that the UN could “do a lot more if the aid that is really needed was entering faster.”

The UNICEF spokesperson warned that with the advent of winter, the risks for hundreds of thousands of displaced children will increase.

He warned, “The stakes are incredibly high” for children as winter acts as a threat multiplier, where children have no heating, no insulation, and few blankets. He said respiratory infections rise.

“Too many children have already paid the highest price,” Pires said. “Too many are still paying it, even under a ceasefire. The world promised them it would stop and that we would protect them.”

“Now we must act like it,” the UNICEF spokesperson added.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, it has killed nearly 70,000 people in the territory, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,000 more, while reducing most of the structures in the enclave to rubble.

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