The doctor is based in Alabama, which has the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
A doctor in Alabama has said that he will not see patients who have not been vaccinated for Covid-19.
Coronavirus cases are going up across the US, but especially in the south. The top 10 states with the most Covid-19 cases are all southern states.
So in an effort to encourage his patients to get the jab, Dr Jason Valentine has announced he will only treat vaccinated patients.
The announcement was made in a post on Facebook showing Dr Valentine pointing to a sign which read: "Effective October 1st, 2021, Dr. Valentine will
no longer see patients that are not vaccinated against covid-19."
The post had initially been public but has now been made private.
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats/posts/5440877672671909
The
Washington Post reports that Valentine wrote a letter to his patients which said: "We do not yet have any great treatments for severe disease, but we do have great prevention with vaccines.
"Unfortunately, many have declined to take the vaccine, and some end up severely ill or dead. I cannot and will not force anyone to take the vaccine, but I also cannot continue to watch my patients suffer and die from an eminently preventable disease."
Related links:
Cardinal who criticised vaccine placed on ventilator days after Covid diagnosis
First 12-15-year-olds to be vaccinated against Covid in Ireland
Government ‘orders 35m Pfizer vaccines for 2022 boosters’
The doctor has said that since he posted the photo, at least three patients have asked him where they can get the vaccine.
Valentine has a blunt answer to anyone that questions his decision though, saying: "If they asked why, I told them covid is a miserable way to die and I can’t watch them die like that."
Less than 36 per cent of the Alabama population has been fully vaccinated, with the state's governor Kay Ivey saying that it is "time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks" for the state's surge in new cases and hospitalisations.
On Tuesday, the president of the Alabama Hospital Association has said that there are more patients in intensive care units than there are available ICU beds.
