Persons diagnosed with Down syndrome may be more prone to suffering the severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) if they are not vaccinated.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony made this observation on Thursday during his daily COVID-19 update as he addressed the effects of the virus on persons with Down syndrome.
Anthony noted that persons who have this diagnosis and are not vaccinated can experience a more severe reaction to the virus.
“These patients generally will have what we will call a number of comorbidities… and therefore if they are not vaccinated and they get COVID they will have a more severe form of the disease. So it is absolutely essential that this category of patients should get vaccinated.”
The Minister added that while it is necessary to get the vaccine, persons with Down syndrome may encounter slight side effects like everyone else. “When you get the vaccine some people might have pain at the site of vaccination, some of them might get fever, some would have sore muscles. So these are general side effects that persons would get when they get vaccinated and it is the same thing for Down syndrome.”
