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The University of Washington Medical Center says patients who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID before an organ transplant will be taken off the waiting list.
Patients should be fully immunized before their procedure, unless they have a specific medical exception that prevents them from getting the vaccine, according to UW Medicine.
FILE: A member of medical staff prepares the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Tudor Ranch in Mecca, California.
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The hospital says patients’ immune systems are suppressed and in a prolonged weakened state after a transplant, making them more vulnerable to infections with viruses like COVID-19.
This policy requiring patients to receive the COVID vaccine before an organ transplant is only a few weeks old, but UW Medicine has long required that patients waiting for such operations be up to date with all critical vaccinations before a procedure.
LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL GREEN-LIGHTS VACCINE PASSPORT, AMONG THE STRICTEST IN THE UNITED STATES
Patients cannot wait until the end of their transplant to be vaccinated against COVID. UW Medicine says patients generally don’t respond as well to the COVID vaccine due to their weakened immune systems.
UW Medicine’s policy follows that of other healthcare providers who refuse organ transplants to unvaccinated people.
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In late September, Colorado’s UCHealth health system told a woman with stage 5 kidney disease that she was being refused a kidney transplant because she and her donor were not vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Emma Colton of Fox News contributed to this report.
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