263810login-checkTransplant patients, some others with immune issues, stuck in limbo as country reopens |
Maria Hoffman feels as though she has been left behind. Her adopted hometown of Charleston, S.C., is hopping – with restaurants and bars fully open, park concerts in full swing and maskless friends reuniting with hugs on streets.
Hoffman, 39, is fully vaccinated and eager to rejoin the world. But as a kidney transplant patient, she is hesitant to participate for fear of becoming infected. “Risk is very different for people in my situation,” she said. “I am 100% acting like I am not immunized.”
The state worker is among millions of immunocompromised Americans, about 3 to 4% of the U.S. population, for whom the shots may not work fully, or at all, and who are unsure of their place in a country that is increasingly opening up. Emerging research shows that 15 to 80% of those with certain conditions, such as specific blood cancers or who have had organ transplants, are generating few antibodies.
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263810login-checkTransplant patients, some others with immune issues, stuck in limbo as country reopens |