In the fall, I covered a story about Sarah Hyland getting her booster shot and thanking science for her health. Sarah has had two kidney transplants for her congenital condition, kidney dysplasia. Like other organ recipients, she takes daily anti-rejection medications which suppress her immune system and can make covid especially deadly. In that story I mentioned potential organ transplant recipients being denied available organs due to their refusal to get vaccinated. Some have cited bogus “religious” reasons based on misinformation. The doctors who make these decision say there’s a very high demand for organs and that they have to choose patients who have the highest survivability odds.

Up until now, I haven’t seen a high profile case where a potential organ transplant recipient has complained about needing to get vaccinated before getting an organ. Enter D.J. Ferguson, a Massachusetts man whose family is putting the Boston hospital that denied him a heart on blast. Of course they’re fundraising off of this and have already raised over 81,000.

A Boston hospital is defending itself after a man’s family claimed he was denied a new heart for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, saying most transplant programs around the country set similar requirements to improve patients’ chances of survival.

The family of D.J. Ferguson said in a crowdfunding appeal this week that officials at Brigham and Women’s Hospital told the 31-year-old father of two that he was ineligible for the procedure because he hasn’t been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“We are literally in a corner right now. This is extremely time sensitive,” the family said in its fundraising appeal, which has raised tens of thousands of dollars. “This is not just a political issue. People need to have a choice!”

D.J.’s mother, Tracey Ferguson, insists that her son isn’t against vaccinations, noting he’s had other immunizations in the past. But the trained nurse said Wednesday that he’s been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation — an irregular and often rapid heart rhythm — and that he has concerns about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“D.J. is an informed patient,” Tracey Ferguson said in a brief interview at her home in Mendon, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Boston. “He wants to be assured by his doctors that his condition would not be worse or fatal with this COVID vaccine.”

Brigham and Women’s Hospital declined to comment on D.J. Ferguson’s case, citing patient privacy laws. But it pointed to a response that it posted on its website in which it said the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several immunizations required by most U.S. transplant programs, including a flu shot and hepatitis B vaccines.

[From NPR]

In a news segment of Ferguson’s dad on CBS (below), he said the vaccine is “kind of against [DJ’s] principals, he doesn’t believe in it.” People who won’t get vaccinated against covid during a pandemic are also less likely to be medically compliant. If they won’t even take a vaccine, how can they be trusted to take their medication every day? It would be a waste of an organ. I read the GoFundMe and they’re claiming that Ferguson’s heart might swell if he gets vaccinated and that might kill him. No, he is antivax and trying to couch it that way. That’s why his mother is saying the doctors need to convince him. Antivaxxers often put the onus on others to change their minds. “Oh you need to convince me.” No, you need to do what millions of other people have for your health and the health of those you come in contact with. In this case it’s a requirement for getting a precious organ that so many other people could benefit from. Smokers can’t get lung transplants and active alcoholics can’t get liver transplants. Ferguson’s family is dumb but they’re smart enough to try to get some publicity and money out of this.