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FILE – A medical assistant prepares a photo of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine in a primary care doctor’s office. (Photo by Wolfgang Kumm / picture alliance via Getty Images)
SEATTLE – If you haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19, you may have trouble getting a transplant in western Washington.
Colorado hospitals have made the decision to deny transplants to most unvaccinated patients, and the University of Washington Medical Center is following suit.
UW Medicine requires that transplant patients receive the vaccine, otherwise they will be taken off the waiting list and found ineligible for a transplant, unless they have a specific medical exemption. UW told FOX 13 News the policy began “a few weeks ago.”
Health officials say the reason is safety; when a patient receives a transplant, their immune system is weakened and weakened for a long time. During this time, they are vulnerable to infections and COVID-19 can be extremely dangerous for people with compromised immune systems, even fatal. Being on a transplant is a great time to get the vaccine, according to UW Medicine, when the patient’s immune system is more likely to respond to the vaccine.
The most important thing to note, however, is that this is nothing new.
UW Medicine says they have for years demanded up-to-date vaccinations for all patients on transplant waiting lists. The difference now is that the COVID-19 vaccination is also on the list.
Other Washington hospitals that offer transplant procedures include Sacred Heart Medical Center, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Swedish Medical Center, and Virginia Mason Medical Center.
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