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A New Zealand court today took temporary custody of a sick baby whose parents blocked life-saving heart surgery because potential blood donors could be vaccinated against covid-19.
The four-month-old boy, identified as ‘Baby W’ in court documents, was ordered by the Auckland High Court to be placed under partial guardianship, allowing an urgent operation to go ahead to correct a heart disorder known as valve stenosis. pulmonary.
The baby’s parents had blocked the procedure on the grounds that any blood transfusion could come from a donor injected with an mRNA vaccine.
The pair used discredited arguments and anti-vaccine fringe theories to try to prove that the injections were not safe.
The baby’s parents had blocked the procedure on the grounds that any blood transfusion could come from a donor injected with an mRNA vaccine. Pictured: The four-month-old baby’s mother and father leave Auckland High Court on Tuesday ahead of the court’s decision on Wednesday.
But High Court Judge Ian Gault said he accepted affidavits from health experts who said millions of blood transfusions have been given around the world since coronavirus vaccines were introduced, and that the vaccines had not caused no known harmful effects.
“The overriding question is whether the proposed treatment is in the best interest of the baby,” the court said in a statement.
The boy is now under the ‘medical conservatorship of the court’ until he ‘finishes his surgery’ and recovers, no later than the end of January.
The parents will remain custodians “for all other purposes” and will be “informed at all reasonable times of the nature and progress of Baby W’s condition and treatment,” according to the ruling.
The case has gripped New Zealand, underscoring the power of vaccine misinformation.
The parents’ legal battle has been embraced by anti-vaccine groups, who gathered outside the courtroom this week as evidence was presented.
The judge said the baby’s parents were loving and wanted the best for their son and accepted that he needed surgery. The judge said that the relationship between the parents and the doctors had suffered and that they should try to improve it before and after the surgery and be respectful of each other.
Court rules prevent the baby and parents from being named.
Court documents identified the mother as a midwife.
Anti-vaccination protesters supporting the mother and father of a four-month-old baby in urgent need of heart surgery demonstrate outside Auckland High Court on Tuesday.
Health New Zealand spokesman Mike Shepherd said it was “a difficult situation for all involved”.
“The decision to file an application like this with the court is always made with the best interests of the child in mind.”
The baby is being treated at Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital.
After the verdict, anti-vaccine activist Liz Gunn told a small crowd of supporters to pressure Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to somehow reverse the decision.
‘Jacinda, this is at your feet,’ she said, looking on the verge of tears.
“Pray for them to show some humanity in this country, of which we were once so proud and of which I am now so ashamed.”
The health authorities had rejected the parents’ request for unvaccinated blood, arguing that it was impractical and unnecessary.
The family claims to have dozens of unvaccinated donors lined up.
The New Zealand blood service does not distinguish between donations from covid vaccinated or unvaccinated people as there is no additional risk from using vaccinated blood.
It states that there is no evidence that the use of blood from a vaccinated person poses any risk to recipients and that any traces of the Covid-19 vaccine decomposed and would not be transferred to patients.
“All donated blood is also filtered during processing, so any traces that may still be present do not pose a risk to recipients,” he said.
“This is a really rare case where the parents want a better deal for their child than what the state is offering,” Sue Grey, an attorney for the parents, said last month.
‘It’s gone down this path because we have a government and a blood bank… (who) are not willing to make these services available.
“Not only do they not offer those services, but they say, ‘We know best what’s good for your baby and we want you to do it our way.'”
Cardiac stenosis is when the heart valves do not open correctly, which means that blood and pressure can build up, reducing blood flow and putting pressure on the heart.
According to Healthdirect, one in 4,000 people are born with an aortic valve that is a different shape that can harden or scar as they age, increasing their chances of developing cardiac stenosis.