Colin Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants who rose to become the first Black U.S. secretary of state and top military officer and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died of COVID – 19 complications after receiving two shots against the virus. He was waiting to get his booster shot when he got sick.
The 84-year-old had been treated over the past few years for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that impairs the body’s ability to fight infections and to respond well to vaccines. Moreover, people with weakened immune systems because of illnesses like cancer — or cancer treatments — don’t always get the same level of protection from vaccinations as healthier people. Several studies have found as few as 45 per cent of people with multiple myeloma may develop protective levels of coronavirus-fighting antibodies after getting the vaccine.
“The more people that are vaccinated, the less we have viral spreading in the community, the less chances of people like him getting infected to begin with,” said Dr. Mangala Narasimhan, chief of critical care at Northwell Health in New York.
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