Newswise — MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola Medicine experts have concluded that COVID-19 vaccine requirements for lung transplant patients are an ethical and necessary practice. Daniel Dilling, MD, medical director of the lung transplantation program at Loyola Medicine, and Mark Kuczewski, PhD, a professor of medical ethics at the Stritch School of Medicine, shared their recommendation in a paper published by the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplant.
They concluded, "The politicization of our current public health crisis has rendered controversial many simple measures to address the spread and effects of COVID-19…We believe that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 should not be controversial when we focus strictly on established frameworks and practices surrounding eligibility for wait-listing to receive a solid organ transplant."
"Transplant patients are at a much higher risk for contracting severe cases of COVID-19 due to the medication required after transplant that suppresses their immune system," said Dr. Dilling. "Getting the vaccine before being immunosuppressed ahead of a transplant provides a much better level of protection than if patients wait to be vaccinated afterward."
Dr. Dilling partnered with Dr. Kuczewski and other members of the bioethics department at Loyola Medicine to study COVID-19 vaccine requirements for transplant patients. "The ethical framework that has evolved over the decades indicates that physicians have an obligation to both the patient in need of a transplant and the donor. As stewards of the gift the donor is giving to the recipient, the transplant team must give that gift a reasonable chance to flourish," said Dr. Kuczewski.
Transplant patients have historically been required to stop smoking and taking narcotics, modify alcohol intake and receive flu or hepatitis vaccines before they are placed on the waiting list. Dr. Dilling and Dr. Kuczewski concluded that a COVID-19 vaccine requirement reasonably aligned with these prerequisites. They also concluded that a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for immediate family members and caretakers in close contact with a transplant patient would be an ethical practice.
After concluding their discussions, Dr. Dilling and Dr. Kuczewski submitted their paper in hopes that it would provide a road map for other transplant programs as they navigate discussions on how to ethically justify a COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
Loyola Medicine's lung transplant program has a COVID-19 requirement in place for their patients. "Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of the patient before us and honoring the stewardship of the donor," said Dr. Dilling.
Dr. Dilling's message to transplant patients who might be feeling vaccine hesitance is that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. "The likelihood of having a serious adverse reaction to the vaccine is so low compared to the risk of getting COVID-19 if you aren't vaccinated," he said. "And the risk of contracting a severe case of COVID-19 goes way up after having a lung transplant."
About Loyola Medicine
Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from more than 1,500 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. Loyola is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, a certified comprehensive stroke center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. Established in 1961, Gottlieb is a 247-licensed-bed community hospital in Melrose Park with the Judd A. Weinberg Emergency Department, the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research Facility at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center. MacNeal is a 374-licensed-bed teaching hospital in Berwyn with advanced medical, surgical and psychiatric services, acute rehabilitation, an inpatient skilled nursing facility and a 68-bed behavioral health program and community clinics.
For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, Catholic health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 115,000 colleagues and nearly 26,000 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 25 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 88 hospitals, 131 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 125 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. Based in Livonia, Michigan, its annual operating revenue is $20.2 billion with $1.2 billion returned to its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs.
For more information, visit www.trinity-health.org or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.
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