The family of a 12-year-old Indiana girl claims she has been denied a heart transplant because she is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and flu.
Adaline Deal, who is a distant relative of Vice President JD Vance, suffers from a rare defect that causes one of her heart valves to leak.
Her heart also beats abnormally fast, reaching up to 250 beats per minute, which puts her at an even greater risk of sudden heart failure and cardiac arrest.
The youngster now requires a potentially life-saving heart transplant, but Cincinnati Children’s in Ohio – where she has been treated for almost 10 years – has reportedly refused to put Adeline on its heart transplant waiting list because of her vaccination status.
Adaline has not had any vaccinations as they conflict with her family’s religious beliefs. Adaline’s mother, Jeneen, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that when the family was denied, she thought: ‘Wow. So, it’s not about the kid. It’s not about saving her life.’
Hospitals usually require patients to be vaccinated against preventable diseases because transplant recipients take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent organ rejection, which makes them more vulnerable to infections.
Jeneen, who is related by marriage to JD Vance’s half-siblings, added: ‘We’ll take it as we can if it happens. But I know I cannot put this [vaccine] in her body knowing what we know and how we feel about it.’
Transplant recipients in the US are strongly recommended – but not mandated – to be vaccinated.
Doctors typically recommend vaccines before transplantation whenever possible to ensure the patient is protected while their immune system is still strong.
However, the specific requirements can vary depending on the transplant center and the patient’s condition.
Research has indicated that transplant recipients are at a higher risk of dying from Covid when compared to non-transplant patients.
Along with COVID-19, transplant patients must also receive vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, and other diseases like hepatitis B.
Adaline was adopted from China when she was aged four, and her adoptive mom Jeneen said she knew about her health problems at the time.
Jeneen, who has 12 children in total including eight who are adopted, says she and her husband Brayton are now looking at taking Adaline to a different transplant center that doesn’t require vaccinations.
To date, the couple has raised more than $50,000 via GoFundMe to pay for the necessary treatment.
On the donation page, they write: ‘She has grown so much that now her heart can’t sustain her.
‘So, we are seeking funds for the heart transplant process.’
Adaline was born with a heart defect known as Ebstein’s anomaly, which has left her with a heart valve that doesn’t work properly.
Fewer than 50,000 people in the US have this kind of heart defect.
Adaline also has Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, which is a condition that causes the heart to beat abnormally fast for periods of time.
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