Unvaccinated girl now on hospital transplant list, family says
Months after initially refusing, Cincinnati Children’s put a 13-year-old girl on its heart transplant waiting list despite her vaccination status, the girl’s mother told The Enquirer.
Jeneen Deal, who is related by marriage to Vice President JD Vance’s half-siblings, said the Cincinnati hospital gave in to the family’s requests to put teenager Adaline Deal on its transplant waiting list this summer.
The hospital had previously required Adaline to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu in order to be put on the list, which her parents weren’t willing to do.
Hospital stressed importance of vaccination
The Enquirer first reported on the controversy in February. At the time, the hospital did not directly comment on the family’s case but released a statement about the importance of vaccines for transplant patients.
Vaccines are recommended for transplant recipients because those patients will be immunosuppressed for life, putting them at a higher risk for infections.
Jeneen believes the vaccines are unsafe and said they conflict with the family’s Christian beliefs. She searched for another hospital that would put Adaline on its transplant list without the vaccine requirement, but Children’s agreed to put Adaline on its list over the summer, Jeneen told The Enquirer in a text message.
Trump writes letter to Adaline
Viral social media posts, news articles and a Go Fund Me campaign that has raised over $65,000 brought attention to the family’s case. President Donald Trump wrote Adaline a letter and said she was in his thoughts and prayers. Jeneen believes that pressure caused Children’s to yield.
The Enquirer emailed a Cincinnati Children’s spokesperson to confirm whether Adaline is on the hospital’s transplant list, but did not hear back.
Jeneen and her husband adopted Adaline from China when she was 4 years old. The couple has 12 children, in total, including eight who are adopted. Adaline was born with two heart conditions, Jeneen previously told The Enquirer, and they adopted her knowing she would one day need a heart transplant. Adaline received treatment at Cincinnati Children’s for almost 10 years.
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