Should vaccinated patients with breakthrough infections be prioritized over vaccine refusers?

[LonePirate]

As hospitals are filling up again, should vaccinated patients with breakthrough infections be given priority (i.e., bed space) over those who have refused vaccines?

This question is not about children too young for the vaccines or those with medical issues that prevent them from being vaccinated. As both of those groups should not be excluded from hospital care obviously.

Rather, if a hospital has only one empty bed and there is a choice between admitting a person who is fully vaccinated but has a rare breakthrough infection requiring care or a person who is unvaccinated and adamantly refuses to be vaccinated in the future, what patient should the hospital admit? Should they admit the one who actively tried to avoid infection and stands a better chance of recovery? Or should they admit the patient more likely to be at risk with less chance of recovery without medical care?

8 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	The vaccinated patient should be admitted
	4 (50%)
	The unvaccinated patient should be admitted
	0 (0%)
	First come, first served
	2 (25%)
	It depends on other circumstances and details
	2 (25%)
	I just don't know
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[hlthe2b]

1. No one is more angry than I at the anti-vaxxer and refusers, I can absolutely assure you.

That said, this is a Pandora's box I don't want to see opened. What next? Decide an age cut-off above which we refuse or "slow-walk" health care? Prioritize the wealthy person with the best health care insurance over those with a more basic plan?

I have to deal with these a'holes nearly every day, as do my colleagues and my sister. It is burning a hole in our "guts" to avoid saying what we really want to while taking their abuse.

But, no. We triage emergent health care based on severity. Not on who does or does not "deserve" to be treated.

[frazzled]

2. The situation is more complex, and not so black and white

Breakthrough cases are still relatively rare, and most are asymptomatic. The hospitalizations and deaths from breakthroughs are primarily among the elderly and/or people who have comorbidities. Often, as the article below states, COVID is not the reason the person was hospitalized or died; it was merely detected upon admission for something else and presented no symptoms.

It is possible for breakthrough infections to lead to severe illness, hospitalization and even death, particularly in more vulnerable individuals.

As of July 12, the CDC has reported nearly 5,500 cases in which a fully vaccinated person with Covid-19 was hospitalized or died. Seventy-five percent of those patients were over age 65.

But a breakthrough case didn't necessarily cause the hospitalization or death. Many breakthrough infections are asymptomatic and are found by chance or routine testing among patients who arrive at the hospital for other reasons, such as heart conditions or other medical problems.

In fact, in 1,456, or 28 percent, of the hospitalizations tracked by the CDC, the breakthrough cases were either asymptomatic or didn't play a role in why the patient was hospitalized. Take, for example, an older man who goes to the hospital for a heart attack. He tests positive for Covid-19 but without any symptoms. He still must be hospitalized to receive treatment for the heart attack.

That can also be true for the deaths that have occurred in people with breakthrough infections. In Delaware, a spokesperson for the state's Division of Public Health said just because residents had died with a diagnosis of Covid-19 "does not mean Covid was the cause of death."

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/rarely-covid-vaccine-breakthrough-infections-can-be-severe-who-s-n1274164

I suspect quite a few of us vaccinated folks might test positive without our even knowing we have something. This is why I still wear a mask in an indoor setting (groceries, etc.): I want to protect people who might be vulnerable in the event that I am carrying even a small amount of the virus.

[marie999]

3. It depends on triage. Whether or not someone receives the vaccine should not be an issue.

[Beachnutt]

4. The vaccinated person should absolutely get that bed

anti vaxxers should wait until a bed opens up or meet their maker, they made the choice
https://mobile.twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1418210466656972808

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. Hospitals already have a comprehensive triage procedure.

The most serious cases are going to get priority treatment. While I can assure you medical professionals are as angry at the unvaccinated as you and I, their process is not, and should not, be that vituperative.

[Iggo]

6. No. (n/t)

[Hekate]

7. Should hospitals be allowed to turn away patients based on race, creed, suspected gayness...

… being trans, or in the case if women, suspicion her claimed miscarriage might instead be a botched abortion?

[GemDigger]

8. I don't want to be part of a death panel.

I am not qualified to decide on who gets admitted or who gets to die on the corner. I imagine that the doctors would decide who has a better chance of survival and that would be the person who gets the bed.