The University of Colorado\u2019s health system announced Tuesday that patients awaiting an organ transplant are now required to be vaccinated in order to receive a \u2026<\/b>
\nThe University of Colorado\u2019s health system announced Tuesday that patients awaiting an organ transplant are now required to be vaccinated in order to receive a transplant. \u201cIn almost all situations, transplant recipients and living donors at UCHealth are now required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in addition to meeting other health requirements and receiving additional vaccinations,\u201d UCHealth said in a statement given to KDVR. \u201cSome U.S. transplant centers already have this requirement in place, and others are making this change in policy now.\u201d Leilani Lutali, a patient on the kidney transplant list at UCHealth, has been moved to inactive status due to not being vaccinated against COVID-19, KDVR reported. Her potential donor, Jamie Fougner, was also deemed ineligible for the procedure since she is also unvaccinated. Both Lutali and Fougner claimed that they have religious concerns regarding the vaccine, according to KDVR. \u201cBoth from a religious standpoint, and from doing some reading, I\u2019m not certain that this is the right way to go,\u201d Lutali said, according to KDVR. \u201cThe shot\u2019s relatively new, and as a consumer, I\u2019m not an early adopter, I wait and see what\u2019s going on. I feel like I\u2019m being coerced into not being able to wait and see, and that I have to take the shot if I want this life-saving transplant.\u201d Fougner echoed her views, saying that she\u2019s a \u201cstrong no on the vaccine, for sure,\u201d CBS 4 reported. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about compromising my morals, for her right to have a surgery,\u201d she said, according to CBS 4. \u201cHow can I sit here and allow them to murder my friend when I\u2019ve got a perfectly good kidney and can save her life?\u201d The two women met in a bible study ten months ago and both were not under the impression that they needed a vaccine to conduct a transplant, CBS 4 reported. Lutali received a letter from UCHealth saying that she had been taken off the donor list due to non-compliance with the new vaccine ruling, according to KDVR. \u201cYou will have 30 days to begin the vaccination series. If your decision is to refuse COVID vaccination you will be removed from the kidney transplant list,\u201d the letter reportedly read. Upon completion of the vaccination series, Lutali would be reactivated on the kidney transplant list. UCHealth said in the statement to KDVR that \u201cpatients who have received a transplanted organ are at significant risk from COVID-19\u201d and that \u201ca living donor could pass COVID-19 infection on to an organ recipient even if they initially test negative for the disease, putting the patient\u2019s life at risk.\u201d Facing stage 5 renal failure, Lutali and Fougner have looked into other hospitals in Colorado that would allow them to go through with the procedure while remaining unvaccinated, but to no avail, CBS 4 reported. The two women are now looking into other states to complete the procedure, according to the outlet. Hospitals are not the only entities imposing vaccine policies, as major companies have also begun to mandate vaccines for their employees. On Sept.9, Biden granted authorization to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to create a rule declaring that businesses with greater than 100 employers either required vaccination or to submit to weekly testing.<\/p>\n