Survey of Current Transplant Center Practices Regarding Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates in the United States

ABSTRACT

Purpose: We surveyed current policies of transplant centers regarding a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and rationales for or against a mandate policy. Method(s) An electronic survey was distributed to clinicians at U.S. solid organ transplant programs from 2020-2021. Result(s) 56.4% of transplant programs representing 78.5% of all kidney transplant volume and 82.4% of liver transplant volume in the US from 9/1/20-9/1/21 responded to the survey. 35.7% of centers reported implementing a vaccine mandate, while 60.7% reported not that vaccination was not required and 3.6% were uncertain. Centers without a vaccine mandate policy cited administrative, equity, and legal considerations (Figure A). Centers with a vaccine mandate cited clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of pre-transplant vaccination (82.0%) and stewardship obligations to ensure organs were transplanted into the lowest risk patients (64.0%) (Figure B). Among centers with a mandate, few required confirmation of vaccine responsiveness through antibody testing (2.6%), required a support person (10.0%) or co-habitants (5.0%) to be vaccinated. 42.5% of centers with a mandate also required living donor candidates to be vaccinated. There was no correlation between the presence or absence of a vaccine mandate and the point prevalence rate of COVID-19 vaccination by the home State of the transplant center. Conclusion(s) Solid organ transplant centers in the US exhibit significant heterogeneity in the requirement for a COVID-19 vaccination prior to receiving an organ. While all centers encourage vaccination, most programs do not require all candidates and living donors to receive the COVID-19 vaccine prior to surgery, citing administrative opposition, legal prohibitions, and concern about equity in access to transplants. Among the minority of centers mandating COVID-19 vaccination for candidates, few centers also mandate vaccination for support persons or co-habitants, require additional testing to demonstrate adequate vaccine responsiveness, and less than half of these centers also mandate vaccination for living donor candidates. (Figure Presented).