Unvaccinated Canadian Woman Denied Organ Transplant Finds US Hospital to Perform Surgery

Surgical instruments are used during an organ transplant surgery at a hospital in Washington on June 28, 2016. The Canadian Press/AP-Molly Riley

An Alberta woman who was removed from a high-priority organ transplant list for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccine has found a hospital in the United States that is willing to perform the surgery.

Sheila Annette Lewis was diagnosed with a terminal illness in 2018 and was told she would not survive without an organ transplant. She was placed on an organ waiting list in 2020, but in 2021 she was informed that a COVID-19 vaccine was required to receive the transplant.