According to a recent report, adults with Down Syndrome are more likely than the general public to suffer from COVID-19, highlighting the importance of vaccinating individuals with the genetic disorder first. Adults with Down Syndrome are three times more likely than the general population to die from COVID-19, as per the researchers. A 40-year-old with Down syndrome has a higher chance of dying from COVID-19 than a 30-year-old in the general population.
Adults with down syndrome 3-10 times more likely to die from COVID-19
An old lady wanted to turn her agony into something useful. In her 60-plus years, her Down Syndrome brother has never been without a family member at his side. But then he became seriously ill with COVID-19, and she had no choice but to leave him at a nearby hospital, where he was lost and lonely. Two weeks later, he passed away. She was now contacting the Down Syndrome Association of Minnesota to see whether she could help save more families from the same situation by assisting the organization in convincing state health authorities to make the COVID-19 vaccine a priority for adults with Down Syndrome.
According to USA Today via MSN, adults with Down syndrome, especially those aged 40 and up, are three to ten times more likely than the general population to die from COVID-19. The results verified what many had speculated - that people with a genetic disease, who are also inclined to breathing problems, cardiac problems, and other coronavirus risk factors, are more vulnerable to the virus's adverse effects.
Organizations urged the government to prioritize those with Down Syndrome
According to a new study led by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta as part of an international partnership, a 40-year-old with Down syndrome poses the same COVID-19 chance as a normal 70-year-old. As per the researchers and advocates, the findings point to the importance of prioritizing vaccination for people with Down syndrome, especially adults.
While an increasing body of evidence prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to add Down Syndrome to its list of high-risk groups for priority vaccines in December, advocates say several states are still undeserving the population.
Whitten reports that there are between 300,000 and 400,000 individuals in the United States with Down Syndrome, a condition in which people are born with an extra chromosome. The Global Down Syndrome Foundation says the estimated lifespan of people with Down syndrome has improved significantly since the 1980s, owing to institutionalizing those people.
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Many people with Down Syndrome who live in community facilities got the COVID-19 vaccine early on as part of CDC's prioritization of residents in nursing homes and congregant cases. But the majority of the population remained unvaccinated - a circumstance that prompted several Down Syndrome advocacy organizations around the country to take action.
A major study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in October 2020 found that individuals with Down Syndrome who get COVID-19 are four times more likely than the general public to be hospitalized and ten times more likely to die. Additional research has followed up these findings with people who suffer from trisomy 21, a genetic defect affected by irregular cell division that results in the development of an extra chromosome as per the MedicalXpress.
