Man says he would rather 'die free' than get covid jab for organ transplant

This is at least the second such case in the past week

A man awaiting a life-saving organ transplant has said he would rather "die free" than get the covid-19 vaccine that is required for the operation to go ahead. Chad Carswell of Burke County, North Carolina is in desperate need of a kidney transplant and has already had multiple heart surgeries. He is also is a double amputee and one of his kidneys is currently operating at just 4 per cent efficiency, meaning he is already required to have dialysis three times a week. Speaking to WSOC news outlets, Carswell revealed that while family, friends and even local businesses raised money for the vital heart transplant - not to mention "more than 100 people" offering to donate a kidney - he will not get the jab. After being scanned by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC, and told he would need the jab for any transplant to go ahead, he responded as such:

“He [the doctor] said, ‘The last thing we need to talk about is your vaccination status.’ And that’s when I politely told him there was nothing really to talk about it, it wasn’t up for debate [and] that I wasn’t getting it. Then, he told me, ‘You know you’ll die, if you don’t get it.’ And I said, ‘I’m willing to die’”.

Carswell went on to declare, “I was born free. I will die free. I’m not changing my mind", revealing that he has already explained his position to his family and friends: "They know where I stand, and it’ll not be a situation that occurs that I will choose to change my mind on this topic”. This comes less than a week after an unvaccinated man was denied heart transplant in Boston for the very same reason. The hospital reiterated that it would not carry out an organ transplant without a vaccine because the jab ensures the best possible chance the patient lives and the organ does not go to waste.