An Australian teenager has tragically passed away after a long fight with leukemia. The 17-year-old girl had been rejected for a potentially life-saving lung transplant because she had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Dazelle Peters, of New South Wales, died in hospital on Monday following a four-year long battle with leukemia, her father Josh confirmed in a post to social media.
“Just know that Dazelle knew how much you all loved her,” Peters wrote. “This kid was something special and you deserved better.”
Australian boxer George Kambosos Jr. was one of the many who posted heartfelt tributes to Peters on social media, praising her for the bravery she had exhibited in her fight against the disease.
“RIP beautiful Dazelle, my deepest condolences to her family, heaven gained a beautiful angel,” Kambosos wrote in a post to X. “Dazelle you’ll never be forgotten, an inspiration to everyone you ever met. God bless your parents, that where [sic] by your side when you finally spread your wings. Life can be cruel.”
Peters’ case made international headlines last year after it was revealed that she was being refused the double lung transplant needed to treat her blood cancer because she had refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
A spokesman for St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney previously stated that their “policies and guidelines wouldn’t support transplantation” of anyone who was unvaccinated. “Vaccination status against various infections is a critical part of this assessment in order to ensure optimal prospects of survival post-transplant.”
The teenager had been identified as a “potentially immunocompromised patient” after contracting a form of pneumonia. Her father claimed that a doctor had told them that by refusing to get vaccinated, she would be a “major threat to everyone [who was currently hospitalized] who had done the right thing” if she contracted COVID-19. “The way he made us feel was that they didn’t want to give her the lung transplant,” he said.
The hospital maintained that there were multiple factors that resulted in her being rejected for the transplant procedure, but did confirm that not wanting to take the vaccination was one of them. This is despite the fact that Australian government officials had confirmed that there was no official mandate forcing transplant patients to take the COVID-19 vaccination.
While some Members of Parliament attempted to request assistance for the girl, Federal Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney wrote that the “Australian government is unable to intervene in clinical decisions,” noting that “the priority and treatment given to an individual is ultimately a clinical decision made by the treating hospital and transplant teams involved.”
The local New South Wales government also said in August of last year that they had been assured “that the clinicians providing her care have followed protocols aligned with the International Society of Heart/Lung Transplantation recommendations, and the Transplant Society of Australia and New Zealand guidelines.”
Despite the hospital’s claims that a COVID-19 vaccine would maximize Peters’ chances of survival, a case study published in April of 2022 revealed that some lung transplant patients who had received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines ended up developing “new and significant respiratory compromise after their second vaccine dose consistent with antibody mediated rejection,” with one patient being forced to be re-listed for a lung transplant.
