Hospitals Are Denying Transplants for Patients Who Aren’t Vaccinated Against Covid, with Backing from Ethicists

January 26, 2022

(STAT News) – Perhaps because of the politicization of Covid-19 vaccines more broadly, the reaction to such decisions is sometimes greeted with outrage. But ethicists and transplant physicians stress that organ allocation has to be partially determined by who can survive and thrive with a scarce resource. With so many people waiting for an organ, clinicians try to maximize the chances of a successful transplant. Hospitals don’t want to allocate an organ to people who are putting themselves at higher risk of dying after a transplant — especially since that organ can’t then go to someone else. (Read More)