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Bernard LaPierre, pictured with his wife Meagan, is being denied a kidney transplant over his refusal to take an experimental coronavirus vaccine.<\/p><\/div>\n
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By Celeste McGovern<\/p>\n
Worcester, Massachusetts, July 16, 2021 (LifeSiteNews<\/a>) \u2013 A father of three young children has been denied a kidney transplant by UMass Memorial Health Center unless he agrees to take experimental COVID-19 shots before the surgery.<\/p>\n Bernard LaPierre, 37, who has been a Type 1 diabetic since his childhood, was told in 2019 that his kidneys were failing and he needed to be put on the waiting list for a transplant when he was hospitalized for a major reaction to one of his prescription drugs.<\/p>\n LaPierre\u2019s wife Meagan told LifeSiteNews that she has recently completed most of the tests required for donating one of her own kidneys to her husband and \u201cso far, everything looks good\u201d to allow her to be his living organ donor.<\/p>\n The parents of three young boys ages 12, 10, and eight, said all was going well with their preparations for the major dual surgery and they had inquired about vaccination \u2013 which they were reluctant to undergo \u2013 and were re-assured on \u201cat least three occasions\u201d by UMass personnel that the decision to take any vaccine was their own medical choice.<\/p>\n UMass administration suddenly pivoted its policy, however, said Meagan. According to electronic patient notes she provided LifeSiteNews, a nurse identified as \u201cLinda S.\u201d wrote on June 25 that Bernard had become \u201cunderstandably\u2026 upset\u201d that morning when she told him that a Patient Selection Committee met on June 23 \u201cand while we believe he is a good candidate for transplant, we want him to have the vaccinations recommended (Hep A, Hep B, Prevnar, pneumovax).\u201d<\/p>\n On July 7, another \u201cprogress note\u201d written by infectious diseases specialist Mary Dawn T. Co said that Bernard would also be required to take coronavirus shots.<\/p>\n Hepatitis A is a liver infection spread primarily by fecal-oral transmission and affects mostly international travelers, homosexual men, drug users, and homeless people.<\/p>\n Hepatitis B affects one in 100,000 Americans, according to data<\/a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention \u2013 most of whom are homosexual men or prostitutes with a high number of sexual partners<\/a> or injection drug users or babies born to infected women.<\/p>\n Both hepatitis vaccines are a series of two doses. Prevnar and Pneumovax are vaccines against different kinds of pneumonia.<\/p>\n LaPierre had pointed out that he was very unlikely for him to acquire sexually transmitted disease<\/a> from his own wife\u2019s organ.<\/p>\n \u201cI explained that vaccines were recommended to get infections in general rather than those transmitted from his donor,\u201d Dr. Co wrote in Bernard\u2019s progress notes on July 7.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talked about the increased risk of infections post-transplant and the possible compromise of his transplant should he develop an overwhelming infection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe patient said he was willing to assume the risks of going without vaccination, but I said that our program is not,\u201d Co wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cI told him that we respected his wishes and concerns but that we, as a program, believe that the benefits of vaccination outweighed the risks and that having these vaccines was important to ensure that he had the best outcome after transplant.\u201d<\/p>\n Meagan LaPierre said she began questioning vaccine protocols that require multiple injections years ago after one of her sons became ill for months with diarrhea and ear infections following an appointment in which he received multiple vaccine shots in the same leg. She and her husband had become especially wary of the\u00a0fast-tracked, experimental COVID-19 vaccines that are still undergoing clinical trials and have already been unexpectedly linked to serious disorders including blood clotting disorders<\/a>, inflammatory heart conditions<\/a> and a paralyzing neurological condition, Guillain Barr\u00e9 Syndrome<\/a>, and shingles<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bernard, a corrections officer, had said he would agree to the other vaccines but not the experimental coronavirus injections. All current COVID-19 vaccines are still undergoing clinical trials for at least another year and have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration but granted Emergency Use Authorization Only<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Nuremberg Code<\/a>, enshrined after the atrocities against the Jews in World War II, recognizes the individual\u2019s right to exercise the free power of choice to give informed consent or to refuse to any experimental or other medical intervention, free of any constraint or coercion.<\/p>\n UMass has refused the LaPierre\u2019s wishes, however.<\/p>\n \u201cOur policy is that we need to have them vaccinated,\u201d said UMass public relations officer Debora Spano. \u201cImmunosuppressive patients are at higher risk for infections and have poorer outcome. We\u2019re responsible for his outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n Spano said that the decision came from Adel Bozorgzadeh, chief of division of organ transplantation.<\/p>\n Asked about risks of the vaccine itself, for which the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System<\/a> has received more than 438,000 reports of adverse events. These include 9,048 deaths and more than 14,000 reports of life-threatening and permanently disabling events.<\/p>\n Spano said, \u201cOur physicians are saying that the chances of a major side effect are still better, and the Pfizer vaccine is 93% effective at preventing COVID and you\u2019re better to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, if you\u2019re the person that dies or ends up with myocarditis [from the vaccine] that\u2019s a problem,\u201d Spano said. Asked if the hospital could be liable in that case, if it forced a patient to take an experimental COVID vaccine, she said, \u201cI couldn\u2019t answer that for you.\u201d<\/p>\n In a study published in May in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers showed that in people who have received solid organ transplants, two shots against SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, does not confer immunity<\/a> and they are still advised to keep social distancing and masking afterwards.<\/p>\n![\"Image\"](\"https:\/\/assets.lifesitenews.com\/images\/made\/images\/remote\/https_www.lifesitenews.com\/images\/local\/lapierre_2_960_1280_75_s_c1.jpeg\")
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<\/figure>\nNo consent to experiment<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Vaccine failure<\/strong><\/h4>\n