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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AP) – When a Colorado woman found out her hospital would not approve her kidney transplant until she received the COVID-19 vaccine, she was left with a decision difficult to pit their health needs against their religious beliefs.
Leilani Lutali, a born again Christian, went with her faith.
Even though she suffers from stage 5 kidney disease that puts her in danger of dying without a new kidney, Lutali, 56, said she could not agree to be vaccinated because of the role that stem cells play. played in the development of vaccines.
“As a Christian, I cannot support anything that has to do with abortion of babies, and the sanctity of life for me is precious,” she said.
UCHealth requires transplant recipients to be vaccinated because recipients are at significant risk of contracting COVID-19 as well as being hospitalized and dying from the virus, spokesman Dan Weaver said. Unvaccinated donors could also pass COVID-19 to the recipient even if they initially test negative for the disease, he said.
“Studies have shown that transplant patients who contract COVID-19 can have a death rate of 20% or more,” he said.
It is not clear how common this type of policy is.
The American Hospital Association, which represents nearly 5,000 hospitals, healthcare systems and networks in the United States, said it had no data to share on the matter. But he said many transplant programs insist that patients be vaccinated against COVID-19 because of their weakened immune systems.
While any type of surgery can stress a patient’s immune system and make them vulnerable to the subsequent contraction of COVID-19, organ transplant recipients are at even greater risk because they must take a powerful regimen of medication to suppress their immune system in order to prevent their body from rejecting the new organ, which is considered by the body to be a foreign object, said Nancy Foster, AHA vice president for quality and patient safety policy , in a press release.
“Also, if patients had to wait to receive their vaccine after the operation, their immune system is unlikely to be able to trigger the desired antibody response as they are taking anti-rejection drugs,” he said. she declared.
Transplant centers in Washington, Vermont, Massachusetts and Alabama have policies requiring recipients to be vaccinated, according to news reports.
The Cleveland Clinic recently decided to require COVID-19 vaccination for transplant recipients and living donors, the organization said in a statement.
Some health systems recommend or strongly encourage vaccination for transplants, including the Mayo Clinic and Sentara Healthcare, two of the largest in the country. The transplant program at the University of Alabama School of Medicine at Birmingham only recommends that living donors receive a vaccine, but it does not require it for the donation process.
The best time to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is before an organ transplant. If time permits, patients should receive their second dose of the available vaccines at least a few weeks before the transplant “so that your body has a good immune response to the vaccine,” said Dr. Deepali Kumar, president of the American Society. of Transplantation. -elected and an infectious disease specialist.
Many major religious denominations have no objection to COVID-19 vaccines. But the deployment has sparked heated debate because of the long-standing role that cell lines derived from fetal tissue have played a role, directly or indirectly, in the research and development of various vaccines and drugs.
Catholic leaders in New Orleans and St. Louis have gone so far as to label Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 shot as “morally compromised.” J&J pointed out that there was no fetal tissue in his vaccine.
Additionally, the Vatican Doctrine Office said it was “morally acceptable” for Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research using cells derived from aborted fetuses. Pope Francis himself has said it would be “suicide” not to get vaccinated, and he was fully vaccinated with the Pfizer formula.
Ethical considerations should take into account both individual and societal perspectives, said Dr Kumar.
“This is really the best thing for the patient right now and from a societal point of view as well,” she said. “The more patients who get vaccinated, you know, we have better results.”
For Lutali, a recruiter for tech companies, it appears her hospital has been so insistent on saving her from COVID-19 that he’s willing to eventually let her die by blocking her transplant surgery.
Lutali, who does not belong to any faith, said she does not live in fear of dying because of her belief in the afterlife. She is looking for another hospital, perhaps in Texas or Florida, where she can get a transplant without being vaccinated.
“I have hope that something will happen and that I can live with my choices,” she said.
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Nieberg and Slevin reported from Denver.
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