New Zealand’s Supreme Court on Wednesday took temporary custody of a sick infant whose parents refused life-saving heart surgery over fears of coronavirus vaccines in banked blood. The Auckland court ordered emergency custody of six-month-old “Baby W” to make the surgery possible. “The overriding question is whether the proposed treatment is in the best interests of the child,” the court said.
The child is now under the court’s medical guardianship until “the completion of his operation” and his recovery by the end of January at the latest. For all other matters, the parents remain entitled to custody. In addition, they would be regularly informed about the course of the treatment and the condition of the baby, the judgment said.
The baby’s parents had blocked the operation because they didn’t want blood transfusions that might have come from a donor vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine. Health authorities denied the parents’ request for blood from an unvaccinated donor.
New Zealand’s blood transfusion service makes no distinction between donations from those who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus or those who have not, as blood from those who have been vaccinated poses no additional risk.
New Zealand Health Authority spokesman Mike Shepherd said it was a “difficult situation for everyone involved”. The decision to submit such an application to the court is always made “with regard to the best interests of the child”.
The baby is being treated at Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland. About 150 anti-vaccination protesters demonstrated outside the courthouse on Tuesday to support the baby’s parents.
New Zealand’s strict Covid policy is seen as one of the most successful responses to the pandemic worldwide. Even before the start of the vaccination campaign, the mortality rate was comparatively low. But travel restrictions, lockdowns and other restrictions have drawn a small but vocal group of opponents of vaccination and restrictions.
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