Dr. Robert Truog, a professor of medical ethics, anesthesia and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and director for its Center for Bioethics, said that decisions like this should not be interpreted as punishment for those who choose not to receive the COVID-19 — or any other — required vaccination, but instead as a commitment to the organ transplant’s success.
“It’s really important to differentiate between punishing someone who has chosen not to be vaccinated and taking into account factors that may affect the success of the transplant,” Truog said. “We owe it to those people who have chosen to be organ donors to be good stewards of that gift and that that gift actually helps somebody.”
Vaccinations are required, Truog said, because organ recipients are severely immunosuppressed following the procedure and at a higher risk of death should they contract an illness, including COVID-19.