Sad update on teen denied life-saving treatment over Covid vaccines

A teenage cancer patient who was denied a lifesaving lung transplant because she refused to get the Covid vaccine has died. 

Dazelle Peters, 17, who was diagnosed with leukaemia four years ago, lost her fight for life in hospital on Monday morning. 

Her father Josh Peters confirmed the heartbreaking news in an video uploaded to several social media platforms.

He thanked everyone who had sent messages of support to Dazelle during her lengthy cancer fight, sparking an outpouring of tributes.

‘Just know that Dazelle knew how much you all loved her,’ he said.

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‘This kid was something special and she deserved better.’ 

Hundreds of people took to social media to remember Dazelle and express their sympathy. 

‘Rest in peace, Dazelle, and my condolences to you and your family,’ one person wrote. 

‘Dazelle, I admired you for your courage, strength and your unconditional love that you shared [with] many,’ another person said. 

Aussie boxer George Kambosos Jr, who met Dazelle in hospital, shared an emotional post on X. 

‘RIP, beautiful Dazelle. My deepest condolences to her family. Heaven gained a beautiful angel. Dazelle, you’ll never be forgotten, an inspiration to everyone you ever met. God bless your parents, that were by your side when you finally spread your wings. Life can be cruel,’ he wrote.

Other Aussies paid tribute to the teen for sticking to her beliefs by not receiving the Covid vaccine, even if this decision limited her treatment options.

‘Young Dazelle Peters was more principled and brave than the majority of Australians. Much respect to her for sticking to her principles until the end, despite the cost. An honorable example for Australians,’ one wrote.

Dazelle had required a double lung transplant to help treat her leukaemia, which is a type of blood cancer.

But she was denied the treatment because she refused to get the four Covid vaccine shots required.

She had received a bone marrow transplant in May 2021 and suffered from Graft-versus-host disease, which causes her immune system to attack donor blood cells. 

She also contracted a rare form of pneumonia, which specialists at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital said made Dazelle a potentially immunocompromised patient who needed to be vaccinated.

Mr Peters previously claimed a doctor at the hospital had told his daughter that if she did not get the vaccine and then caught the virus, she would be a ‘major threat to everyone [in the hospital] who has done the right thing’.

‘The way he made us feel was that they didn’t want to give her the lung transplant,’ Mr Peters, 45, previously told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Peters claimed a doctor had also said during a consultation at St Vincent’s that the hospital would give the lungs to a better candidate because Dazelle was a ‘complex case’.

The hospital had said Dazelle’s vaccination status was a factor in her not being put on the lung transplant waiting list – but there were other reasons for the decision too.

A hospital spokesperson previously said their ‘policies and guidelines wouldn’t support transplantation’ of an unvaccinated person.

‘Vaccination status against various infections is a critical part of this assessment in order to ensure optimal prospects of survival post-transplant,’ a St Vincent’s hospital spokesperson said.

Dazelle’s case was brought to the attention of the Federal Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney in a letter addressed to her by outspoken Liberal MP Russell Broadbent.

Ms Kearney advised ‘the Australian Government is unable to intervene in clinical decisions’. 

‘The priority and treatment given to an individual is ultimately a clinical decision made by the treating hospital and transplant teams involved,’ she stated. 

She clarified there was no official mandate barring the unvaccinated from getting transplants. 

‘The guidelines do not prevent a patient who has not received a Covid-19 vaccination from being placed on a transplant waitlist,’ Ms Kearney said.

She also said each state and territory was responsible ‘for the delivery of the jurisdictional health services, including hospital and transplantation services’.

Dazelle’s family said that while a doctor had described Dazelle as a ‘complex’ case, she was encouraged to ‘do the right thing’ and get vaccinated, which would have taken nine months to administer, in order to keep other patients and staff safe. 

The nightmare for the Peters family began when Dazelle was found collapsed in her bedroom, and she was later in and out of John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle. 

Although the severity of her condition reduced while Dazelle was being treated in hospital, the toll her body took from various treatments over several years caused Dazelle’s kidney, liver and heart to be impaired. 

Mr Peters previously told Daily Mail Australia that Dazelle had made up her own mind to not get the Covid vaccination.

‘Dazelle has been clear she doesn’t want the jabs,’ Mr Peters said.

‘We can’t force her, and the hospital know they can’t force her.’

According to the TGA, Covid-19 vaccines can cause some side effects.

The most frequently reported include injection-site reactions (such as a sore arm) and more general symptoms, like headache, muscle pain, fever and chills.

Australian government health guidelines indicate Covid-19 vaccines are safe for people who have chronic health conditions. 

Patients receiving end-of-life care are at high risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus. 

Patients in Australia who have cancer can decide whether they want to receive the vaccine or not and they can choose to make that decision with healthcare staff.