‘Dying’ baby approved for heart transplant after parents fight vaccine ‘mandates’
A 6-month-old baby suffering from a rare form of congenital heart disease has been approved for a transplant after his evangelical parents fought against orders to have him vaccinated.
August Stoll has now been added to the transplant list at Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, after his mother blasted the vaccine “ultimatum” in a post published on Tennessee Stands.
“August was placed on a ventilator, and they have been scrambling to keep him stable ever since,” mom Hannah Stoll wrote on June 24. “His heart cannot even function well enough to help him breathe. He is in terrible condition. He is dying.”
She continued: “I firmly believe with absolute confidence that it is despicable, unethical, heartless, and disgusting to withhold a heart from a 6-month-old baby over this.”
Hannah did not disclose which vaccines doctors had ordered August receive before being added to the transplant list.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6-month-old babies should be vaccinated against Hepatitis B, rotavirus, tetanus, pneumococcal, polio and haemophilus influenzae.
Meanwhile, last week the FDA authorized the COVID-19 vaccine for infants ages 6 months and older.
Hannah and her husband, Clint, first rushed baby August to the hospital when he was 12 days old, claiming he “almost died from heart failure.”
After numerous stints in and out of the hospital in the ensuing months, August went in for open-heart surgery on June 8.
Doctors initially believed the procedure was successful, but later told the infant’s parents that it did not go as planned. The “heartbroken” mom and dad were informed that a transplant was their only hope — but baby August had to be vaccinated.
In her post, Hannah claimed that a transplant team at the hospital gave her and Clint “an ultimatum that if we did not give August a series of vaccines they would keep him off the transplant list.”
She even asserted that one doctor — whom she named — “specifically used the phrase ‘I am mandating’ about 8 times.”
“I believe loading August’s body on these [vaccines] will kill him. I believe it is within my rights as a parent to choose this for him. I believe that this doctor holding this over us is motivated by ego,” the distraught mom wrote.
She subsequently clarified: “We want to be clear that we have no issue with any other of the Vanderbilt cardiology team. They have been wonderful to us and our son. It is specifically the pediatric transplant team that is stopping August from getting a heart.”
The Post has contacted the doctor explicitly named by Hannah Stoll for comment.
On Tuesday, there were new developments in the case, with Hannah and husband Clint taking to their Instagram account to reveal that August had now been added to the transplant list.
It appears the parents had conceded to at least some of the doctors’ demands and had the tot vaccinated with some shots.
“Vanderbilt has been clear they are willing to work with us in some ways regarding our beliefs. But we did not win this fight,” Hannah and Clint wrote. “Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital has respected our privacy and it is important we keep the lines of communication open and productive.”
The couple continued: “August has been quickly placed on the transplant list… As parents, it is very difficult to balance health decisions when your child is in such a delicate state, hanging in the balance between life and death. Decisions have to be made sometimes hour by hour.”
It’s unclear if or when August will undergo a heart transplant. His parents have been frequently updating nearly 15, 000 supporters on their popular Instagram account.
The Post has reached out to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for further information on what vaccines are mandated by the facility before a baby is eligible for a transplant.
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