… Powell was vaccinated, but his immune system was compromised
Retired General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell passed away today and the cause of death was listed as Covid-19. However, after the announcement was made about his passing, some of his advisors have acknowledged that he has suffered from cancer for at least two years.
So, while he was fully vaccinated, it did not protect him from the Covid for two reasons: His age, 84, and Multiple Myeloma.
I know about multiple myeloma because my father passed away from it in the 1980s. The disease has no cure, though some of the more recent years have seen quite a few new treatments for people who are suffering from the disease. Former NBC host Tom Brokaw is one of them, and he has written a great deal about his treatment.
Treatment
The announcement was made this morning,
Colin Powell, the first Black U.S. secretary of state, has died of complications from COVID-19 while quietly battling blood cancer. He was 84.
In a statement on Facebook on Monday, the Powell family wrote that he passed away from unspecified COVID complications early Monday morning, and added: “We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment. We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American.”
His family said he was fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But he underwent prostate cancer treatment in 2003—and he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2019, according to Kathy Giusti, founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, who was in touch with him about his illness.
“He was doing really well with the myeloma,” Giusti told The Daily Beast. “He was on the typical treatments, but anytime you are on treatment and in any way immunocompromised and you get COVID, it’s a trickier situation.”
Jamie Ross and Tracy Connor, “Colin Powell, first black Secretary of State, dies from Covid while battling cancer,” The Daily Beast, October 18, 2021
Vaccines cannot work against the immuno-compromised
The problem for the older Americans is simply one of age, but when a person’s immune systems are compromised as a cancer patient is, most will not survive,
Giusti called Powell “an incredible man” who was living life to the fullest. “Every time I spoke to him, he said, ‘I am feeling amazing,’” she said. “It’s a reminder that when you have cancer you have to be on your game all the time.”
She cautioned against anyone extrapolating from Powell’s death that the COVID vaccine doesn’t work. “He died from COVID complications, but the fact is he was also dealing with cancer and was elderly.”
Jamie Ross and Tracy Connor, The Daily Beast, October 18, 2021
CDC warns cancer patients about the danger
The Centers for Disease Control have published information about every group of people who are at high risk for Covid. This includes those for people who have multiple myeloma,
When a person has cancer they are at a higher risk for having severe illness from COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And several studies have found as few as 45% of people with multiple myeloma may develop protective levels of coronavirus-fighting antibodies after getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Age also is a risk, especially months after someone is first vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tracked dips in protection, especially among older Americans who were among the first people vaccinated last winter. The reduced protection is the result of either waning immunity or the extra-contagious delta variant.
Powell was the first African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state.
Andrew Weil, “Multiple Myeloma: Colin Powell treated for blood
cancer prior to his death,” NBC, October 18, 2021
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