A father-of-two who is in line for a heart transplant, has been removed from the transplant list for a new heart because he refuses to have the Covid vaccine.

DJ Ferguson, a patient at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston is dire need of a new heart and was scheduled to have the life-saving operation as he suffers from a hereditary condition which causes his lungs and heart to fill with blood and fluids.

According to his Dad, David Ferguson, the 31-year-old was at the “front of the line” to receive a new organ until he refused to change his stance on the Covid jab – and now faces a grave future having been removed from his place on the transplant list. 

“It’s kind of against his basic principles; he doesn’t believe in it. It’s a policy they are enforcing and so because he won’t get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant,” Ferguson told a local news outlet. 

Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital, part of Harvard Medical School, said the jab is required for transplant candidates.

In a statement, they said: “Given the shortage of available organs, we do everything we can to ensure that a patient who receives a transplanted organ has the greatest chance of survival.

“Like many other transplant programs in the United States – the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several vaccines and lifestyle behaviours required for transplant candidates in the Mass General Brigham system in order to create both the best chance for a successful operation and also the patient’s survival after transplantation.”

The hospital added most of the 100,000 people on waitlists for organ transplants will not receive an organ within five years due to a shortage of available organs.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasises side effects from the vaccine are rare and temporary – encouraging transplant recipients and those in their immediate circles to get fully vaccinated and boosted.