An Alberta woman who was removed from a high-priority organ transplant list for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccine has found a hospital in the United States that is willing to perform the surgery.
Sheila Annette Lewis was diagnosed with a terminal illness in 2018 and was told she would not survive without an organ transplant. She was placed on an organ waiting list in 2020, but in 2021 she was informed that a COVID-19 vaccine was required to receive the transplant.
Lewis had all her childhood vaccinations updated in 2021 but decided not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine because she was concerned about side effects. According to a GiveSendGo fundraising campaign set up to help pay for Lewis’s surgery, she had tested positive for COVID-19 twice and received a COVID antibody test where she was found to have “extremely high” levels of antibodies, however, was still required to take the vaccine in order to receive the transplant in Canada….