New Zealand court strips parental custody over refusal to allow blood transfer ... trends now
A New Zealand court has seized custody of a dying baby after his antivaxx parents refused blood transfusions from Covid-vaccinated donors.
The ruling puts the six-month-old boy, named 'Baby W' in legal documents, into the guardianship of officials until he has a life-saving heart operation and recovers.
His parents, who remain unnamed per court order, demanded the donated blood needed post-operation come from someone who had not been given an mRNA Covid shot.
Baby W was born with a heart defect that puts him at a much higher risk of cardiac failure and is ‘getting sicker with every heartbeat,’ according to Paul White, the country’s health ministry lawyer.
The news out of New Zealand came on the same day that UK health authorities approved a low-dose formulation of Pfizer's vaccine for babies six months and up in a move expected to draw controversy.
The parents refused blood transfusions from donors who had received either the Pfizer or the Moderna mRNA vaccines over debunked concerns that it would endanger their baby's life
The case has galvanized anti-vaxxers in New Zealand who demonstrated in support of Baby W's parents in Aukland.
Under High Court Judge Ian Gault, Baby W will be paced under partial guardianship of the court, though only with jurisdiction over medical decisions. The parents maintain the power to make all other non-medical decisions for their baby.
Medical specialists at Starship Children’s Hospital and the New Zealand Blood and Organ Service declined their request that the child received blood donated by someone who was not vaccinated against Covid with either Moderna or Pfizer's shot.
The parents cited fringe theories that say mRNA vaccines are unsafe and alter a person's DNA. They also said that the vaccine has a risk of causing a heart condition called myocarditis, but the vaccinated person's donated blood would not affect the baby's genetic makeup.
The antibodies that the immune system creates following vaccination circulate in the person's bloodstream, but they are at such a low concentration that it likely has no impact on the person who receives the donation.
The arguments the parents cited for refusing vaccinated blood have been discredited.
Despite various fringe theories claiming the opposite, there is no evidence that blood donations from Covid-vaccinated donors pose any risk to recipients, and blood transfusions from donors who received a vaccination are not associated with a risk of
