A New Zealand court has awarded fitness officials guardianship of a six-month-old baby whose parents refused the centre’s life-saving surgery if “contaminated” blood is used through the Covid vaccine, reportedly a landmark court case in the country and an alarming and damaging trend driven by persistent incorrect information about the effect of injections on blood.
A High Court has ruled in favor of New Zealand’s fitness service, Te Whatu Ora, which asked courts to transfer guardianship from the baby’s parents so that consent can only be given to use donated blood in mandatory open-heart surgery, according to the New York Times. Herald of Zeeland.
The boy’s parents had refused to consent to the operation unless blood donated through other unvaccinated people was used, describing the vaccinated blood as “contaminated”.
Judge Ian Gault said the decision, which only covers medical issues and lasts until the child has recovered from the operation, is in the baby’s “best interest”.
Gault dismissed the opportunities proposed by the child’s parents, adding the creation of a blood donation service from unvaccinated donors as unfeasible, and noted that there is no clinical evidence of a threat of transfusion of donated blood through vaccinated donors.
The New Zealand Blood Service says it does not separate or label donated blood based on its prestige of vaccination and that any covid-19 vaccine in the blood breaks down shortly after injection, adding that all donated blood is filtered so that any clues “pose no risk” to recipients.
The dots have become a focus for anti-vaccination demonstrators, who protested outside the courtroom.
Blood has been a lightning rod for covid-related concern and misinformation since the vaccine’s launch. Self-proclaimed experts and activists, occasionally with little or no applicable clinical or medical experience, push the concept that COVID-19 vaccines contaminate the blood, transmit covid itself, or transmit side effects associated with the vaccine, which are sometimes greatly exaggerated. There is no clinical or medical evidence to support any of those claims and there is a wealth of evidence showing that widely used Covid vaccines are safe, effective and have helped save many lives. The challenge is global and there are reports from around the world, plus the United States and Canada, of others refusing to receive blood from vaccinated donors.
Misinformation surrounding the supposed effect of vaccination on blood resurfaced last week with the release of “Sudden Death. “The documentary, which sought to link major deaths during the pandemic to vaccines, was riddled with unsubstantiated claims of evidence and conspiracies. It has become a popular topic of discussion on social media and has been widely criticized by experts. A key detail of the film was blood clots discovered during autopsies, which he said were caused by vaccination.
‘Contaminated’ blood: Covid skeptics for blood transfusions from unvaccinated donors (KHN)
Parents refuse to use life-saving vaccinated blood in baby’s surgery (Guardian)
Immunization on the facts of Covid vaccination and blood donation (RNZ)
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