Doctor in Alabama won’t see patients without COVID vaccine. ‘Can’t watch them die’
A doctor in Alabama says he will stop seeing patients who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Jason Valentine, a physician at Diagnostic and Medical Clinic Infirmary Health in Mobile, on Monday posted a photo to Facebook of a sign on his doors informing patients that, as of Oct. 1, 2021, he will no longer see them if they are not vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Valentine said Monday was the first day he had the signs up on his office doors.
“All three unvaccinated patients on my schedule asked where they could get their vaccine today,” he wrote. “No conspiracy theories, no excuses. Just where do I go.”
“If they asked why,” he continued, “I told them COVID is a miserable way to die, and I can’t watch them die like that.”
Valentine said he is also sending a letter to his patients about his decision.
Those who want to keep him as their physician will need to show documentation proving they received the vaccine, according to his Facebook post. He wrote in the letter sent to patients that he’ll be “happy to transfer” the records of unvaccinated people who choose to see a different physician.
Valentine wrote in the letter that he “cannot and will not” force anyone to get vaccinated.
“But I also cannot continue to watch my patients suffer and die from an eminently preventable disease,” he wrote.
He said the highly contagious delta variant, which is spreading rapidly in the United States, is overwhelming local hospitals and “causing significant illness and loss of life.”
“It is heart wrenching for those of us you have charged to care for you,” he wrote in the letter. “It is emotionally taxing to watch the long, slow suffering of those who get the severe disease.”
Valentine went on to say that the vaccine, which he described as a “modern medical miracle,” offers great protection against the virus and that he was one of the first doctors in the area to get it. He said he evaluated the trials and “understood the science behind its development.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective — and recommends that those who are unvaccinated get a vaccine as soon as possible.
“Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history,” the CDC says.
Data shows the vaccines are effective at reducing severe infection, hospitalization and death. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in July that vaccinated people are seven times less likely to have symptomatic infection compared to unvaccinated people — and 20 times less likely to be hospitalized or die from complications of the virus.
As of Friday, roughly 35% of the population Alabama was fully vaccinated and 46% had received at least one dose of a vaccine, data show. Anyone ages 12 and up is eligible to receive one of the three coronavirus vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States.
Every county in Alabama has a high level of community transmission, according to the CDC, meaning at least 100 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people have been reported in the past seven days.
Valentine said in the letter that it is part of his “duty” to send it to his patients.
“Over the years, I have been honored to serve as your Family Physician in helping you prevent, manage and cure your various ailments,” his letter said. “I appreciate your trust in me and take that responsibility seriously.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Doctor in Alabama won’t see patients without COVID vaccine. ‘Can’t watch them die’."
