Organ transplant and Covid-19 vaccination: Considering the ethics of denying transplant to unvaccinated patients

Recently, a number of organ transplant centers in the United States have proposed to only allow patients who have received the Covid-19 vaccination to be active on their transplant waiting list. This raises numerous ethical issues. This analysis utilizes current empirical data and the guidelines on the ethics of organ allocation published by the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network to guide our ethical reasoning. We conclude that it would be permissible to mandate Covid-19 vaccination as a condition of being listed for an organ transplant at a transplant center and offer recommendations for how to do so.

Automated summary

Recently, some organ transplant centers in the United States proposed to only allow patients who have received the Covid-19 vaccination to be listed on the organ transplant waiting list, which raises ethical concerns. This analysis uses current empirical data and ethical guidelines published by the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network to guide ethical reasoning and concludes that mandating Covid-19 vaccination as a requirement for being listed for an organ transplant at a transplant center is permissible.