![\"Houston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Edited-5341-1000x667.jpg\")
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Lucio Vasquez \/ Houston Public Media<\/p>\n
Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston’s Texas Medical Center, on Aug. 28, 2020.<\/p>\n
The Texas Attorney General’s Office is accusing Houston Methodist hospitals of potentially denying patients organ transplants if they have not received a COVID-19 vaccine, which would violate a new state law.<\/p>\n
In a letter that was shared publicly Monday but dated Oct. 2, the attorney general\u2019s office cites a post on X from July<\/a> that indicated a patient was not able to receive a kidney transplant until they received a COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n House Bill 4076<\/a>, which took effect in September, prohibits Texas hospitals from denying organ transplants based solely on a patient’s vaccination status.<\/p>\n “If still in effect, the Kidney Transplant CPG would violate state law by requiring patients to receive a COVID-19 vaccine prior to a kidney transplant,” the letter reads. “Further, to the extent any other Houston Methodist transplant policies mandate vaccination of any kind for transplant patients or penalize them solely based on their vaccination status, including, for instance, by giving them lower priority on transplant waitlists, those policies would also violate state law.”<\/p>\n In a statement Monday to Houston Public Media, a spokesperson for Houston Methodist denied the allegation.<\/p>\n \u201cHouston Methodist does not have a policy requiring transplant patients be vaccinated against COVID-19, or any other disease, and does not deny care based on vaccination status,\u201d the spokesperson wrote. \u201cWe abide by all state laws and as one of the largest transplant programs in the country, the safety of our patients always comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Texas lawmakers made it illegal for hospitals to refuse organ transplants for unvaccinated patients, medical experts have said transplant recipients benefit from a COVID-19 vaccine and still recommend vaccination. A 2023 study from Johns Hopkins University<\/a> found that transplant recipients who received a vaccine were at a lower risk of hospitalization.<\/p>\n