Alabama Doc Puts His Foot Down on the Unvaccinated

As healthcare providers and public health experts struggle with how to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19, one doctor in Alabama is taking a different approach.

Jason Valentine, MD, a family medicine physician at Mobile’s Infirmary Health Diagnostic and Medical Clinic, announced in a Facebook post that he would no longer see patients who are not vaccinated against COVID, AL.com reported.

Valentine’s post — which could no longer be viewed as of Wednesday afternoon — included a picture of him standing next to a sign that said his new requirement would take effect October 1, according to AL.com. Since posting the message, three unvaccinated patients have asked him where they could receive the vaccine, Valentine said.

About his patients inquiring about his decision, Valentine said, “I told them COVID is a miserable way to die and I can’t watch them die like that,” AL.com reported.

The doctor further posted a copy of a letter that he said he was in the process of mailing to his patients. According to AL.com, the letter, detailing his decision, read in part: “We do not yet have any great treatments for severe disease, but we do have great prevention with vaccines. Unfortunately, many have declined to take the vaccine, and some end up severely ill or dead. I cannot and will not force anyone to take the vaccine, but I also cannot continue to watch my patients suffer and die from an eminently preventable disease.” The letter added that records for patients opting for another provider would be transferred.

Only about 36% of Alabama’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID, according to the latest data from the CDC. The state remains among those with the lowest overall vaccination rates in the nation.

Currently, all but one county in Alabama is categorized as an area of high transmission, according to the state’s Department of Health. The state clocked more than 2,600 new cases Monday, and nearly 1,900 on Tuesday. The number of hospitalized patients has continued to climb since the end of June. It now tops 2,700, and is approaching the state’s previous peak of more than 3,000 in January.

On Tuesday, Infirmary Health tweeted that they currently had 316 COVID inpatients in its hospitals, noting that 84% of these patients were unvaccinated.

Earlier in the week, Don Williamson, MD, the former state health officer who now heads the Alabama Hospital Association, said that the state had 1,562 ICU beds and 1,560 hospitalized patients needing intensive care, the AP reported. COVID patients accounted for nearly half of the state’s ICU patients, Williamson noted, adding that the vast majority of hospitalized COVID patients were unvaccinated.

It remains to be seen whether other physicians will be taking a similar approach to Valentine’s post. Neither Valentine nor Infirmary Health immediately responded to a request for comment.