The CHUM’s decision to limit access to lung transplants to unvaccinated people is based on medical and clinical reasons, Health Minister Christian Dubé said on Tuesday.
“It is really a medical, clinical question, which has been taken by the doctors, [parce] that it was preferable given the rejection rate, ”said Mr. Dubé during an announcement on vaccination.
The Minister then recounted having made verifications on this subject after the publication of the article in the To have to on the new directive and its impact on an unvaccinated 36-year-old patient with cystic fibrosis.
“There is no question of discriminating according to the vaccination status of people who need treatment,” also reacted the national director of public health, Horacio Arruda.
More explanations requested
The opposition parties had already reacted to this story last week. The fact of not being vaccinated should not prevent someone from having a transplant, had supported the health spokesperson of Quebec Solidaire, Vincent Marissal, by launching a call for “dialogue and scientific communication”.
“If you are near a transplant for your lungs, it is most likely because you are not well and your life is likely in danger. If being vaccinated increases the chances of a transplant lasting x percent, it needs to be explained. “
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, for his part had “a lot of difficulty” understanding “what is the medical correlation between a vaccine and then a lung transplant” in “the context of a public system that is must take care of everyone ”.
Mr. St-Pierre-Plamondon also believes that experts and specialists in ethics should present an opinion on this question. “I will read this scientific opinion there with a lot of interest”.
The Liberals insisted on the importance of discussions between doctors and patients. “I hope that, in situations like these, doctors take all the time necessary to inform their patients of the impact that it can have on their transplant (not to be vaccinated)”, argued the leader of the official opposition, André Fortin.
Despite these reactions, the Conservative Party of Quebec reproached the elected representatives of the National Assembly the next day for not having “denounced this aberration”. “The only one to have done it is Eric Duhaime,” he pleaded on Twitter. “Because he’s the only one who really cares about you and your rights.”