Back in January, a prominent Boston hospital made news because it denied a heart transplant to a man who was not vaccinated for COVID-19.
D.J. Ferguson, 31, needed a new heart to overcome a hereditary condition that caused his lungs to fill with blood and fluid, according to the BBC.
In response, Brigham and Women’s Hospital explained its reasoning for the denial: “Given the shortage of available organs, we do everything we can to ensure that a patient who receives a transplanted organ has the greatest chance of survival.”
A hospital spokesman added that its medical staff require “the Covid-19 vaccine, and lifestyle behaviours for transplant candidates to create both the best chance for a successful operation and to optimise the patient’s survival after transplantation, given that their immune system is drastically suppressed.”
Yet at the time, the hospital’s position did not make sense.
As John Hopkins University noted in January, “Unlike delta, omicron seems to cause much higher numbers of breakthrough cases in vaccinated people.” On Friday, the website ContagionLive.com reported on a study of immunocompromised people.
“The results showed that people with immune dysfunction are at significantly higher risk for COVID-19 breakthrough infection after vaccination, as compared to people who are not immunocompromised,” the website noted of those who got vaccinated between December 2020 and September 2021. “Fully vaccinated persons had a 28% reduced risk for breakthrough infection,” the story continued. Still, “People living with HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, and solid organ transplant were more likely to experience breakthrough infections.”
In other words, even if Ferguson were fully vaccinated and boosted, his survival chances were still very risky because the virus exploits weakened immune systems.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube announced that he is working to stop the discrimination that Ferguson and others have been subjected to.
The Sarasota Republican on Thursday introduced the MOONSHOT Act. According to Steube’s office, the bill would prevent hospitals from removing people from the organ-transplant waiting list, changing someone’s status on the list, or refusing to add people to the list because of their COVID-19 vaccination status.
“There have been several heart-breaking incidents reported in which patients were denied a much-needed organ transplant or removed from the transplant waiting list entirely due to their COVID-19 vaccination status. This can oftentimes have a life or death impact,” Steube said in a statement.
“My legislation would stop hospitals from enforcing their overreaching and life-threatening policies that discriminate against those on the organ transplant waiting list based on their vaccine status. Vaccination should be a decision that patients make with their doctors and those in need of an organ transplant are no exception.”
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