OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:32 AM – Wednesday, February 12, 2025
A 12-year-old girl, who happens to be a distant relative of Vice President JD Vance, has been denied a spot on a heart transplant list. Her parents claim that she was denied the opportunity of being put on the list since she has not been vaccinated for COVID-19 and the flu.
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According to a report from The Cincinnati Enquirer, Adaline Deal was born with two rare heart conditions that her family knew would one day require a transplant, her mother Janeen Deal told the outlet.
She continued, stating that Adaline, a distant relative of Vance by marriage through his half-siblings, has been treated at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for nearly 10 years. Her parents hoped that she would, one day, receive her heart transplant there.
However, Adaline’s parents explained that the hospital now requires patients to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu in order to receive a transplant. They also added that the hospital declined to make an exception, even after they expressed that their religious beliefs as non-denominational Christians did not make them feel comfortable to go through with it.
“I thought, wow. So, it’s not about the kid. It’s not about saving her life,” Janeen Deal told the outlet.
Janeen stated that she and her husband had chosen not to vaccinate Adaline against COVID-19 or the flu after “the Holy Spirit put it on our hearts.”
Hospitals argue that vaccines against preventable diseases are recommended for transplant recipients — since those patients are much more vulnerable to infections.
According to Camille Kotton, MD, Adaline, who has “Ebstein’s Anomaly and Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome,” has a higher risk of death if infected with COVID-19 — at least compared to other patients who do not have the same issues.
“The first year after transplant is when they’re at highest risk for infection, but they do have a lifelong risk of severe disease and transplant patients are still dying because of COVID-19,” Kotton said.
Nonetheless, her parents, who adopted Adaline from China when she was 4-years-old, believed that their family, including their 11 other children, would not have any problems with COVID-19 after the transplant.
“We’ll take it as we can if it happens,” Janeen said. “But I know I cannot put this (vaccine) in her body knowing what we know and how we feel about it.”
A Cincinnati Children’s spokesperson declined to confirm that Adaline had been removed from the transplant list, but they did tell The Cincinnati Enquirer outlet that the hospital’s clinical decisions are “guided by science research and best practices.”
“We tailor care plans to each patient in collaboration with their family to ensure the safest, most effective treatment,” spokesperson Bo McMillan said.
Adaline’s family is now hoping that they will be able to bring her to a different hospital, if forced to, to receive the transplant.
A GoFundMe for the cause has raised over $50,000 as of Wednesday morning.
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