(CNN) — A 6-month-old baby has had the heart surgery that his parents attempted to block because they didn’t want him to receive blood from donors vaccinated against COVID-19.
A New Zealand court temporarily took over the child’s guardianship after doctors testified that the surgery was needed to save his life. He will remain under guardianship until he has recovered from surgery.
The surgery to correct a life-threatening congenital heart defect was delayed by his parents’ insistence that he receive transfused blood only from donors not vaccinated against COVID-19.
On Thursday, police were called in by the hospital after the parents prevented doctors from performing pre-surgery assessments. That night, a judge ruled that it was in the child’s best interest that the surgery be allowed, and it was performed on Friday. He is said to be recovering well, the parents’ lawyer told Radio New Zealand.
The case has drawn attention to the ramifications of vaccine misinformation two years into global inoculation drives.
The baby’s parents believed there were “spike proteins in the blood of people who have been vaccinated and that these proteins were causing unexpected deaths relating to transfusions,” according to the judgment.
The New Zealand Blood Service said there is a “very small” chance of spike protein in donated blood, and in the rare cases it is present it is at levels so low that it poses no risk to recipients.
Dr. Kirsten Finucane, the chief pediatric cardiac surgeon at Auckland’s Starship Hospital, told the court that the surgery could not be done without using transfused blood or blood products and that it was “simply impractical” to use blood only from donors approved by the parents.
With the parents and doctors unable to agree on the infant’s treatment and blood transfusion, the New Zealand Health Service last month made an application under the Care of Children Act, asking the court to appoint doctors as agents of temporary guardianship for the baby’s medical care.
New Zealand has relatively high vaccination rates for COVID-19, with about 90% of people aged 12 or above having had two shots, and more than 70% of eligible adults having received a first booster shot, according to its health ministry.
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