The leader of the Colorado Republican Party appeared on conservative radio Tuesday to say she shares a GOP lawmaker’s outrage over the decision of UCHealth, a Colorado hospital affiliated with the University of Colorado, to require an El Paso woman to get a COVID vaccine prior to receiving a kidney transplant.
“I see that as completely inhumane,” KHOW’s Dan Caplis told Colorado GOP Chair Kristi Burton Brown about the hospital’s mandate for a person with a weakened immune system.
“It is,” Burton Brown replied, later agreeing with Caplis that it was a “political play.”
“It doesn’t seem humane at all,” said Brown on air.
For its part, UCHealth said via a statement that other types of vaccinations are required for organ recipients, and the COVID vaccine could save their lives.
“Patients who have received a transplanted organ are at significant risk from COVID-19,” reads the statement from UCHealth. “Should they become infected, they are at particularly high risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death. Studies have found transplant patients who contract COVID-19 may have a mortality rate of 20% or higher. A living donor could pass COVID-19 infection on to an organ recipient even if they initially test negative for the disease, putting the patient’s life at risk.
Burton Brown told Caplis that, overall, she is “absolutely supportive” of people getting the COVID vaccine. Caplis also said he was pro-vaccine, adding he and his family are vaccinated.
