BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — A North Carolina man in need of a lifesaving kidney transplant says he would rather die than get the COVID vaccine.
Chad Carswell is a double amputee and has undergone major surgeries on his heart, but it is his kidney, which is only functioning at 4% that has him undergoing dialysis three times a week, leaving him in need of a transplant.
"Without one, you know, there's no telling how much longer I'll still be here, but I have to have a kidney to prolong my life,” Carswell said.
Carswell says that friends and local businesses raised money for the transplant. He then went to North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem where scans and tests were done.
But then he was told he needed something else: to be fully vaccinated.
“They said the last thing we need to talk about is your vaccination status. And that's when I politely told him there was nothing really to talk about it, it wasn't up for debate that I wasn't getting it,” Carswell said. “And then he told me, you'll die if you don't get it. And I said I'm willing to die."
Carswell said he was also told anyone wanting to donate also had to be vaccinated.
The hospital says their policy follows the current standard of care in the United States, saying in a statement, “the reason it is recommended is to provide protect action for the patient transplant. Patients are at high risk for severe illness. If they don't have preexisting immunity prior to being transplanted.”
Carswell said he’s had COVID-19 twice and doesn’t believe he needs the vaccine. Even if it means he can’t get the surgery.
“I'm not changing my mind,” he said. “I've had conversations with my family and everybody that's close to me, they know where I stand and it'll not be a situation that occurs that I will choose to change my mind on this topic. No sir.”