By Shrina Dong '24
Imagine you’re a doctor and your hospital is grappling with large influxes of patients, leaving only one empty bed. One day, two people come in and both have similar COVID-19 symptoms. However, one is fully vaccinated and the other is eligible for vaccination but has denied it. Do you prioritize the vaccinated person and give them the empty bed? Do you even consider this an option?
This situation has become prevalent throughout U.S. hospitals in COVID hotspot areas, such as Texas, that find themselves short-staffed and running out of necessary equipment, like ICU beds and ventilators. This begs the question: should doctors be allowed the choice to prioritize the vaccinated? Although this controversial topic raises ethical questions, I would ultimately answer yes.
Have you ever heard the idiom, “You’ve made the bed, now lie in it”? It essentially means that one must accept the results of their actions, no matter how unpleasant they may be. Now, let me rephrase the saying: “If you haven’t made your bed, don’t expect others to do it for you.” If one purposely chooses to stay unvaccinated, it’s absolutely justifiable for medical workers to refuse to treat them for multiple reasons.
First off, it should be stressed that this virus is, for the most part, preventable. Healthcare workers provide essential services that include trying to prevent and cure illness for patients and at the peaks of the pandemic, work tirelessly and make extremely difficult decisions, all the while experiencing the deaths of thousands each day; all of this has proven to take a significant psychological toll on frontline workers.
As the fourth wave of increased cases driven by the COVID-19 Delta variant continues surging in America, and as the U.S. death toll from the virus recently surpassed that of the 1918 flu pandemic, it’s understandable that some healthcare workers are frustrated and worn-out.
Technological and scientific advances have allowed for the emergence of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, like Pfizer and Moderna, which have proven time and time again that they provide significant immunity against the virus. While most doctors advise patients to take one of the three available vaccines (including the Johnson & Johnson one-dose), they cannot force it, ultimately leaving the choice up to the patients. Some may heed this advice and some may not; whatever the outcome, doctors are constantly seeing patients severely ill with a virus that is preventable.
According to a CDC study conducted in LA County, “the SARS-CoV-2 hospitalization rate (among the unvaccinated) was 29.2 times the rates among fully vaccinated persons, meaning fully vaccinated people were much less likely to be hospitalized, admitted into the ICU, and die from a COVID-19 infection during a period where the Delta variant started to make up the majority of U.S. cases. An abundance of evidence supports the claim that this virus is preventable and way less people would be hospitalized due to a Covid infection if more people were vaccinated.
Moreover, doctors should be able to choose to prioritize the vaccinated and protect themselves and their most vulnerable patients by decreasing the risk of exposure in their clinics. One South Florida doctor has decided she won’t treat unvaccinated patients in-person any longer.
Speaking to NBC Miami, Dr. Linda Marraccini says, “I understand that people are free to choose, but to me, it’s a problem when it affects other people.” Additionally, scientists at the University of Oxford examined the records of tens of thousands of infected cases that were traced from initial cases. They compared the initial cases which were made up of the unvaccinated and the fully & partially vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca. They discovered that people who were fully vaccinated were less likely to infect others, even though they had similar viral load levels to their unvaccinated counterparts. By creating a vaccine mandate and prioritizing her vaccinated patients, Dr. Marraccini is actively protecting her most vulnerable patients, such as the immunocompromised and elderly, both of whom have a reduced ability to fight off viruses due to weakened and/or aging immune systems and thus have a decreased vaccine response. While some might cite the Hippocratic Oath, an oath of medical ethics historically taken by doctors, to criticize her decision, Marraccini insists she isn’t violating her oath as she is still offering tele-health services to patients, proving that doctors can choose to prioritize the vaccinated without limiting the services provided to the unvaccinated.
I believe that doctors should be allowed the choice to prioritize the vaccinated, however, I also believe people should receive care from medical professionals in ways that don’t have to include in-person visits. As a result of the pandemic, many doctor’s offices are making online appointment alternatives more available, such as video visits and phone calls, offered to all patients regardless of vaccination status. The purpose of this article is not to play the blame game and condemn the unvaccinated, but rather to explain that just like how people can choose to not take the vaccine, doctors can choose not to do something that may put their most vulnerable patients in danger of an avoidable virus.
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