Dr Nick Coatsworth explains why Vicki Derderian can’t get heart transplant without Covid jab

A mother who needs a life-saving heart transplant lashed out at Daniel Andrews after being told she would have to get a covid shot if she wanted the surgery.

Melbourne mother-of-two Vicki Derderian took aim at the Victorian prime minister in an interview on Monday morning saying she had been unable to access surgery because she was against receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

Patients must have received a minimum of two doses to be eligible for a transplant.

Dr. Nick Coatsworth shared his condolences with the mother but stood by the surgeons saying there was a good reason the patients needed the vaccine.

His comment comes as a surprise after the former deputy chief health officer previously criticized workplace vaccination mandates.

Melbourne mother of two, Vicki Derderian, took aim at the Victorian prime minister saying he had been unable to access life-saving surgery.

“The hospital’s stance at the moment is no pricks, no heart,” Ms Derderian told Channel Nine’s Today Show.

‘Because of these mandates, it has interfered with the doctor-patient relationship, patients like me.

“We are being pushed into a corner and forced to take something that goes against what we believe in, or not receive life-saving treatment.”

Dr Nick Coatsworth called Ms Derderian a “strong woman” after hearing her story, but stood by the surgeons.

“From a transplant doctor’s point of view, the biggest risk to you is when we hit your immune system like that, if you get Covid-19 without having the vaccine, then there’s a significant risk that the organ will die with you.” , said. saying.

“And we don’t want that to happen to you, and we don’t want that to happen to the family that has made that sacred gift.”

Ms. Derderian suffered heart failure in 2020 before doctors inserted a ventricular assist device, a mechanical pump that circulates blood.

The mother of two spent a month and a half in the intensive care unit after her surgery.

She said she was on life support because she couldn’t breathe before she was finally released from the unit.

Ms. Derderian then spent another three months in the hospital and in rehab.

Dr. Nick Coatsworth shared his condolences with the mother on the Today Show but supported the surgeons, saying there was a good reason patients needed the vaccine.

Ms Derderian is not vaccinated and patients must receive a minimum of two doses to be eligible for a transplant (file image)

He said he was up to date on vaccinations for all other diseases, but had refused the covid shot.

Ms Derderian was adamant that she is not against vaccines and decided not to get vaccinated after “reading all the information.”

“I wanted to minimize the risk as much as possible because, as you know, a heart transplant is not an easy operation. It’s very complicated. It has a lot of risks,’ she said.

“And to deal with those risks in addition to an unknown risk from a vaccine that has had partial approval, I had to think twice and it was a very difficult decision.”

Dr Coatsworth acknowledged that the covid vaccine posed a risk, but described it as “very, very small”.

Ms Derderian was unmoved by the advice, saying she wasn’t prepared to take any chances.

“In terms of treatments, there are therapeutic treatments that are available to treat covid, should you have covid,” he said.

In July, Dr. Nick Coatsworth said there was no “public health raison d’être” behind Covid vaccine mandates in the workforce and called for them to be dropped.

“Corporations should really rethink whatever vaccine mandate they have right now,” he said.