The children’s hospital of Duke University has elected to deny a young girl a much-needed kidney transplant due to the fact that she has not been dosed with the COVID vaccine, explained the girl’s family.
14-year-old Yulia Hicks has been afflicted by a rare genetic kidney disorder that requires a kidney transplant, but as explained by the girl’s family, Duke Children’s Hospital located in Durham, North Carolina, has elected to deny the girl a spot on the kidney wait list due to her status as not vaccinated against COVID-19.
The adoptive parents of the young girl recorded a phone conversation with Duke Health within which the family was told that the surgeons would refuse to do the kidney transplant unless the girl was given a dose of the COVID vaccine.
“I can’t require you to do anything. I can recommend these things, but if you don’t follow our recommendations, then Yulia can’t be a transplant candidate here,” reportedly stated a kidney specialist for Duke Health to the Hicks family while on a phone call.
“Being unvaccinated to the CDC recommended vaccinations based on her age is part of that,” tacked on the kidney specialist.
The family stated that Yulia has already been afflicted with the disease in the past and fully recovered, but doctors expressed to them that the natural immunity for Yulia was not enough at all, as heard in the recorded calls.
“The virus has continued to mutate and so the natural immunity is not as good as if you had natural immunity plus vaccination,” explained one doctor heard in the call.
A number of studies have shown that the body’s natural immunity can end up being superior ot the various versions of the COVID vaccine. One recent study also suggested that the COVID vaccine could be the cause for a number of organ transplant patients rejecting their recently implanted organs.
When pressed for a statement, representatives for Duke Health first stated that would look into the situation but never followed up after the fact.
The Hicks family has a total of 11 kids including Yulia who was adopted out of Ukraine back in January 2021. The young girl has stayed with two different families in the U.S. prior to her current home, who are trying to give the girl a loving, stable home.
Yulia’s condition forced her to be subjected to peritoneal dialysis on a daily basis, which her family has done with her at their home ever evening for well over a year. They state that they have been trying to work with Duke for the past two years due to her dialysis being through the hospital.
“They tell us all the time she’s a model patient,” stated Hicks. “We do everything they tell us to do, really. The only thing we won’t do is get this COVID vaccine.”
“That’s why we feel like it’s kind of a power struggle because it’s like, you told us it was a recommendation. Recommendation means I get to choose. But you’re denying me because of your recommendation,” concluded Hicks.
