Less than a week after a New Zealand baby whose parents attempted to refuse vaccinated blood received life-saving surgery, a mother in the U.S. is claiming that her one-month-old baby died because of a blood transfusion from COVID-19-vaccinated donors. The story has been picked up by right-wing and anti-vaccine sites despite the lack of evidence to support it. According to the baby’s mother, he had surgery for a throat condition in February, developed a blood clot shortly after, and died two weeks later. He received a blood transfusion during surgery, and although there is no way to know the vaccination status of blood donors, the parents and anti-vaccine advocates have insisted that vaccinated blood killed the baby.
Any death is a tragedy, but there is no evidence that the baby’s death was in any way related to the vaccination status of the blood donors. The baby’s cause of death was a blood clot, which is a serious risk after any major surgery. Messaging may explain that vaccine components are not transferred through blood and that there is no evidence that blood donations from vaccinated individuals will have any negative effect on donation recipients. Blood donations are not separated by vaccination status, so there is no way to know if the blood the baby received was from people who were vaccinated, unvaccinated, or both. Explaining that the Red Cross says that blood and plasma from vaccinated donors are perfectly safe is recommended.
