Colorado hospital system says it won't perform transplants on unvaccinated patients

A doctor and patient.
(Image credit: Remko De Waal/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

The Colorado hospital system UCHealth said in order to protect patients, it is requiring COVID-19 vaccination for transplant recipients and donors "in almost all situations."

"For transplant patients who contract COVID-19, the mortality rate ranges from about 20 percent to more than 30 percent," UCHealth told CBS Denver in a statement. "This shows the extreme risk that COVID-19 poses to transplant recipients after their surgeries." In Colorado, 62.05 percent of residents are vaccinated.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.