Kidney Patient Rejects Transplant to Stay Anti-Vax

A North Carolina man who desperately needs a new kidney is rejecting a transplant because the coronavirus vaccine is required. “I was born free. I will die free,” double amputee Chad Carswell told WSOC. “I’m not changing my mind… I’ve had conversations with my family and everybody who is close to me and they know where I stand and there will not be a situation that occurs where I’ll change my mind on this topic.” The hospital, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, requires the vaccine for anyone on a transplant list because those patients would be vulnerable to severe disease or death if they were infected after the operation—which would mean a scarce organ could go to waste.