VANCOUVER In April 2020, Elya Martinson was busy figuring out how to navigate her family through the new reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer. “Lung cancer when we have COVID that attacks the lungs,” she says with a chuckle. “Say what?” The 37-year-old mother of three was deemed clinically extremely vulnerable to the virus and received one shot of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine on April 14. Like everyone else in British Columbia, she’s slated to receive her second dose four months after her first. However, she wants it next week, in accordance with the 21-day interval recommended by Pfizer BioNTech.
Published Thursday, April 29, 2021 5:06PM EDT Elya Martinson has two important milestones approaching: the anniversary of her cancer diagnosis on Friday, and on Tuesday, the day she d be fully immunized against COVID-19 - if her second vaccine dose is not delayed four months. The single mother of three in Kelowna, B.C., received her first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on April 14, and says she was told at the time she would have to wait until August before booking again, despite having stage 4 lung cancer. Pfizer recommends a 21-day interval between shots of its two-dose vaccine, and like several provinces, British Columbia does not offer medical exemptions for higher risk cancer patients like Martinson.
Adina Bresge
Elya Martinson, shown in this handout image, has two important milestones coming up in her calendar: the anniversary of the appointment that changed everything, and the aspirational date of the appointment that could bring her and her family some measure of security. Friday marks the one-year cancerversary of the day the single mother of three in Kelowna, B.C., learned she had Stage 4 lung cancer, a diagnosis made all the more devastating that the COVID-19 crisis forced her children to stay home from school to shield her from the severe risks of infection.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Memorable and Vibrant Okanagan Photography
Adina Bresge
Elya Martinson, shown in this handout image, has two important milestones coming up in her calendar: the anniversary of the appointment that changed everything, and the aspirational date of the appointment that could bring her and her family some measure of security. Friday marks the one-year cancerversary of the day the single mother of three in Kelowna, B.C., learned she had Stage 4 lung cancer, a diagnosis made all the more devastating that the COVID-19 crisis forced her children to stay home from school to shield her from the severe risks of infection. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Memorable and Vibrant Okanagan Photography
Berube and her husband both work at home, and they have two young children, ages seven and five, in school.
Last week, she chose to pull them from school after a COVID exposure warning within their learning cohort.
On April 15, Berube received her first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as a clinically extremely vulnerable person. But instead of feeling the jubilation others feel knowing their immunity will likely increase over the four months until their second dose Berube worries her immunity will only wane.
The Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology said weeks ago that cancer patients are significantly less protected by a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine than the general population.