New Zealand

A New Zealand court has mandated that health officials temporarily seize custody of a child who is embroiled in a dispute over blood transfusions from donors who have received the COVID-19 vaccine. The four-month-old child is in an Auckland hospital receiving emergency treatment for a cardiac condition. His parents had opposed the procedure and had asked a judge to order that he get blood from unvaccinated donors instead. The High Court, however, decided that the procedure was in the child's "best interest."

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The boy, called Baby W in court documents, was put under the court's guardianship "from the date of the order until completion of his operation and post-operative rehabilitation," Justice Ian Gault said.

He agreed with health officials that the boy's "life [was] truly contingent on the application being granted," and he rejected the parents' plea for unvaccinated blood, calling it superfluous and non-viable, as reported by the BBC. 

However, he emphasised that the boy's parents remained his primary caregivers and insisted that doctors must always keep them updated on the boy's status and course of treatment.

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The High Court, however, decided that the procedure was in the child's "best interest."

Sue Grey, the attorney for the parents, also asked Justice Gault to denounce the establishment of a customised donor programme using only blood from unvaccinated donors. Grey said that the vaccine's long-term effects were "untested" and charged physicians of refusing to offer an alternative donor service due to their ideological beliefs.

The development of any direct donor service, however, would have been a "slippery slope," according to the state blood service's attorney, and would "destroy a good blood service."

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The case has garnered the attention of anti-vaccine activists in New Zealand, with protesters gathering outside the court before the decision was made on Wednesday and many of them carrying placards.

Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) took cognizance that the situation was "difficult for everybody involved" but emphasised that the "health and wellbeing" of all the children in its custody remained its topmost priority.

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