Last year, when I was in nursing school, I was shadowing an RN at a local hospital during my clinical rotations. The RN was taking care of a patient who had just come out of surgery. The doctor was worried because recent labs had shown a shockingly low hemoglobin count — “almost half of the minimum he needs,” the RN told me, showing me the patient’s chart.

The RN had set up a transfusion but the process was suddenly halted by the patient, who demanded to know if the blood had come from a donor who had been vaccinated against COVID.

The doctor was shocked. She told the patient that the blood had not been screened to see if the donor had been vaccinated. The patient was adamant about not receiving donated blood. “I’m not gonna get vaccinated blood,” he stated through paper-white lips. “I know what those vaccines do to you!”

My clinical rotation ended before I found out if the patient ended up agreeing to the transfusion. I don’t know if he relented. I only know that he desperately needed it.

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump stated he........

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