Back in 2021 when the COVID vaccine was first rolled out, there was plenty of backlash when government agencies and private companies alike began mandating the vaccine for their employees, and in some cases, even their customers. (Remember when you had to show your vaccine card to go to concerts?)
Now, I'm not here to debate the vaccine, because chances are whether you got it or not, you're probably still happy with your decision. But can we at least admit that it doesn't prevent COVID like we were told? I mean hell, even Brad Paisley said that if you got the vaccine you wouldn't get COVID, which turned out to be laughably false:
"I think you're going to have a choice: You get the vaccine and you don't get COVID, the other choice is you get the COVID and you don't get the vaccine."
Well a ton of people lost their jobs and faced consequences for their decision not to get the COVID vaccine, including members of our military who President Donald Trump recently announced would be reinstated with full back pay. And unfortunately, one 12-year old is also suffering the consequences of not having had the COVID vaccine.
Adaline Deal was adopted from China when she was just four years old, and for nearly 10 years she's been treated at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital for two heart conditions that she's had since birth. Her family, who are distant relatives of Vice President JD Vance, said that when they adopted her that she would eventually need a heart transplant, and hoped that she would receive it at the hospital where she's been cared for most of her life.
But earlier this month, the child's doctor told her mother Janeen that they would not put her on a transplant list because she had not received her two doses of the COVID vaccine.
According to Janeen, the parents sought a medical and religious exemption, but the hospital wouldn't budge:
"I thought, wow. So, it's not about the kid. It's not about saving her life."
The vaccine is a requirement because transplant patients have a higher risk of infection, and are immunocompromised, which would leave them at higher risk if they were to catch COVID.
But where the logic seems to fall apart is that this 12-year old girl would almost certainly die without the transplant - while any risk associated with not getting the vaccine seems speculative at best? Regardless, the National Institute of Health still suggests that hospitals require transplant patients to receive the vaccine - something that Janeen says she doesn't feel comfortable with, especially given the reported link between the vaccine and heart issues.
In the meantime, the family has started a GoFundMe and is looking at trying to find another transplant center. And a member of the Ohio legislature said this week that she would introduce a bill preventing hospitals from discriminating against children based on their vaccination status:
Vice President Vance hasn't yet commented on the issue facing his family member, but given the Trump administration's stance on mandates, it wouldn't surprise me to see them try to take action to allow Adaline to get her heart transplant.
Just insane that the hospital is basically telling her to die if she doesn't get the vaccine, because without it she may die from COVID after the transplant. Make it make sense.