Some New Zealand parents have refused this Thursday to operate on a four-month-old baby who needs urgent heart surgery, alleging that they reject blood transfusions from people vaccinated against covid-19. The operation has been stopped pending a resolution of the legal battle between the Health System and the minor’s parents.
Despite the fact that the parents recognize the urgency of surgery for the child, who suffers from a narrowing of a heart valve, they maintain the refusal of this intervention as long as plasma from a donor that has been inoculated against the virus is used, they declared in an interview posted Monday on an anti-vaccine channel.
“We do not want blood contaminated by vaccination. That’s the end of the deal. We accept anything else, “says the father sitting on a bed next to his son at the Auckland City Hospital, and ensures that they have a list of about twenty potential unvaccinated donors.
Faced with this situation, the body in charge of coordinating and providing blood donations, NZ Blood, has explained on its website that during collections it is not taken into account whether the donor is vaccinated against covid-19. In addition, it ensures that there is no evidence that the blood of vaccinated people poses an added risk and, according to the Radio New Zealand station, the entity maintains that “patients cannot choose their own donors.”
In response, the Te Whatu Ora public health department petitioned the court on Monday for guardianship of the baby, based on the Child Care Act. This means that it would allow him to proceed with surgery, reports the New Zealand Herald newspaper.
The minor’s parents, lawyers for both parties, surgeons and representatives of NZ Blood, met the day before during a preliminary hearing to end an agreement that did not materialize. Therefore, the Auckland High Court has scheduled a hearing for December 6 in the event that the parties do not reach a prior agreement.
The country, which was forceful with the restrictions during the pandemic to combat the crisis and registers high vaccination rates, has a large anti-vaccine movement. These groups had their peak between February and March of this year, at which time they came to camp in front of Parliament until they were evicted by the Police.
