A 12-year-old Indiana girl, Adaline Deal, a relative of Vice President Vance, has been denied placement on a heart transplant list at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital because she has not received COVID-19 and flu vaccinations, according to her parents, New York Post reports.
Adaline, who was adopted from China at age 4, has been treated at the hospital for nearly a decade for two rare heart conditions—Ebstein’s anomaly and Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome—that her family knew would eventually require a transplant. However, the hospital has a policy requiring transplant patients to be vaccinated, and the family’s request for an exemption based on religious beliefs was denied.
“I thought, wow. So, it’s not about the kid. It’s not about saving her life,” said her mother, Janeen Deal, who believes vaccines are unsafe.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital did not confirm Adaline’s removal from the transplant list but stated that its clinical decisions are based on scientific research and best practices.
“We tailor care plans to each patient in collaboration with their family to ensure the safest, most effective treatment,” hospital spokesperson Bo McMillan told The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Medical experts recommend vaccinations for transplant patients because they are at higher risk of severe illness and death from infections due to their weakened immune systems.
“The first year after transplant is when they’re at highest risk for infection, but they do have a lifelong risk of severe disease, and transplant patients are still dying because of COVID-19,” said Dr. Camille Kotton, a specialist in infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Janeen Deal said she and her husband decided not to vaccinate Adaline after they felt guided by their religious faith.
“We’ll take it as we can if it happens,” Janeen said of the possibility of COVID-19 infection. “But I know I cannot put this (vaccine) in her body knowing what we know and how we feel about it.”
The family is now searching for another transplant center that will accept Adaline without requiring vaccinations. A GoFundMe campaign to support the effort has raised over $50,000 as of Wednesday morning.
