Cancer care and treatment in the Covid-19 era
Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic is still continuing in the globe due to the Delta and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. So far (May 6, 2022), there were more than 513.955 million confirmed cases and over 6.24 million deaths in countries worldwide according to the reports of the World Health Organization. Since cancer cases are an independent and high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and adverse outcomes of Covid-19, particularly with several risk factors, such as advancing age, smoking history, and concurrent comorbidities, better cancer management is needed and palliative care should be the prioritization during the pandemic8,9, and it’s also a chance to remodel cancer care in the globe10.
On the one hand, the Covid-19 pandemic leads to an increased risk of fatal outcomes and higher mortality, and lowering quality of treatment, care, and life in patients with cancer11, and assessment of the quality of the samples and associated data in Biobanks is also a novel challenge for cancer research12. On the other hand, treatment of Covid-19 in cancer cases is a big challenge because we need not only to protect cardiovascular system by vaccination and bio-agents during antiviral and anti-thrombus treatments, but also enhance survival rates of cancer and improve cancer outcomes. However, it remains uncertain regarding Covid-19 vaccine efficacy in cancer patients even if there are positive humoral and cellular immune responses13. Moreover, there are the risks of vaccine-related adverse events. Herein, the reopening of “CANCER MOONSHOT” during the pandemic and post-Covid-19 era is a fantastic decision with a special significance and value. It will help us to realize the transformation from cancer oppression to conquer cancer (Figure 1).