<br><div><aside class="gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el" aria-label="Video - COVID-19 researchers say omicron is longest living variant on skin and plastic"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Public health experts lament that opposition to COVID-19 vaccines is killing thousands of Americans every week.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">The case of a 31-year-old patient in a Boston hospital illustrates how adamant that resistance can be.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Massachusetts resident David B. Ferguson Jr., known as DJ, is in "severe end stage heart failure'' and waiting for a transplant at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital after suffering complications from a hereditary heart condition, according to a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/dj-heathers-relief-fund" style="background-color:#fff" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">GoFundMe page set up for his medical needs</a>.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">The hospital requires transplant candidates to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as one of several conditions to improve their chances of survival, but Ferguson – a father of two with a third child on the way – "doesn’t believe in the need to be vaccinated.”</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">That's according to his father, David Ferguson, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/WeThePeopleWeToo/videos/324219302936925" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">speaking on a video</a> posted on the Facebook page of the organization <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/WeThePeopleWeToo/videos/?ref=page_internal" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">“We The People #WeToo Movement.”</a><a target="_blank" href="/story/news/2022/01/26/boston-hospital-heart-transplant-patient-unvaccinated-covid-19/9223876002/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a"> The <a target="_blank" href="/story/news/2022/01/26/boston-hospital-heart-transplant-patient-unvaccinated-covid-19/9223876002/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">Milford (Massachusetts) Daily News</a> reports the group, which has been protesting outside the hospital, "frequently voices opposition to mask mandates and COVID-19 vaccines.'' </p><aside aria-label="advertisement" class="gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">The elder Ferguson added that his son "needs a heart to live, and they are coercing him into making a decision that is against his will, his intellect, his judgment, his core belief.” In another video, he said the vaccine "causes things like myocarditis and blood clots and all sorts of things,'' even though instances of those side effects have been exceedingly rare.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Transplant centers...</p></div> <style> .wrapper { text-align: center; } </style> <div class="wrapper"> <a class="button" href ="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/01/26/covid-omicron-cases-hospitalizations-cases-vaccinations/9217936002/">Read more <span>➤</span></a> </div>
