Vaccine eligibility for mood disorders underscores elevated covid risk

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Vaccine eligibility for mood disorders underscores elevated covid risk

Wed, 2021-10-27 19:16 — mike kraft

Vaccine eligibility for mood disorders underscores elevated covid risk The change will allow millions of people with mental health conditions to get booster shots. Jenna Portnoy Washington Post

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added mood disorders to the list of conditions that put people at high risk for severe covid-19 recently, clinicians were not surprised. The mind-body connection, they say, is long-settled research.

But the scientific seal of approval is still critical: It makes millions of people eligible for booster shots based on their mental health diagnosis alone and gives vulnerable groups more reason to protect themselves.

“This is a population that is really, really at risk due to the way that covid-19 interacts with the diagnoses,” said Lisa Dailey, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center. “Until the CDC put this group of disorders on their list, they would not have known that.”

The CDC on Oct. 14 added “mental health conditions” to a long list of mostly physical conditions that make someone likely to be hospitalized, need a ventilator or die of the coronavirus, including cancer, diabetes and obesity.

The change means it is important for people with “mood disorders, including depression, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders” to get vaccinated — with initial doses and boosters — and take preventive measures, such as masking, social distancing and hand-washing, according to the CDC.

Public health experts say these precautions are critical for people who are older or have multiple conditions on the list, which is not intended to be comprehensive and has been updated frequently throughout the pandemic.

The addition of mental illness to the high-risk list could put millions of Americans on notice. ...

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