A man who is fighting for his life at a Boston hospital is no longer eligible for a heart transplant because he isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19, his father told local media on Monday.
Boston CBS reports:
The family says he was at the front of the line to receive a transplant but because he has not received the COVID-19 vaccination he is no longer eligible according to hospital policy. Ferguson says his son refuses to get the shot.
“My son has gone to the edge of death to stick to his guns and he’s been pushed to the limit,” David Ferguson said of 31-year-old David Jr (DJ) Ferguson.
“It’s kind of against his basic principles; he doesn’t believe in it. It’s a policy they are enforcing and so because he won’t get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant,” Ferguson added.
The hospital, Brigham and Women’s, said of the situation, “And like many other transplant programs in the United States – the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several vaccines and lifestyle behaviors required for transplant candidates in the Mass General Brigham system in order to create both the best chance for a successful operation and also the patient’s survival after transplantation.”
Ferguson said that he is considering moving DJ to another hospital, but his son might be too weak to do so.
“We are aggressively pursuing all options, but we are running out of time,” the father said.
“I think my boy is fighting pretty damn courageously and he has integrity and principles he really believes in and that makes me respect him all the more,” he added.
A crowdfunding page set up by Ferguson’s wife Tracey says he suspected he already contracted and recovered from coronavirus. “He has requested that the hospital test him for the antibodies,” she wrote.
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