Unvaccinated Man Denied Heart Transplant by Boston Hospital

A US hospital has rejected a patient for a heart transplant at least in part because he is not vaccinated against Covid-19.

DJ Ferguson, is in dire need of a new heart, but Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston took him off their list,

saying his father, David said the Covid vaccine goes against his son’s basic principles.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital told newsmen that there is a shortage of available organs, and they will do everything they can to ensure that a patient who receives a transplanted organ has the greatest chance of survival.

A spokesman said the hospital requires the Covid-19 vaccine, and lifestyle behaviours for transplant candidates to create both the best chance for a successful operation and to optimize the patient’s survival after transplantation, given that their immune system is drastically suppressed.

The hospital’s carefully worded statement may suggest other factors lie beyond the patient’s unvaccinated status for his ineligibility, but it refused to discuss specifics, citing patient privacy.

The hospital added that most of the 100,000 people on waitlists for organ transplants will not receive an organ within five years because of the shortage of available organs.

Mr Ferguson has been in hospital since last Thanksgiving weekend, 26 November 2021, and he suffers from a hereditary heart issue that causes his lungs to fill with blood and fluid, according to a GoFundMe.

The organiser of the fundraiser said Mr Ferguson was concerned he could experience cardiac inflammation – a potential side effect from coronavirus vaccination that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasises is rare and temporary – and that it might prove dangerous given the weakness of his heart.

The CDC encourages transplant recipients and those in their immediate circles to get fully vaccinated and boosted