ALERT: Cleveland Clinic joins Colorado Hospital and says it will stop performing organ transplants for unvaccinated people

The Cleveland Clinic will no longer offer organ transplants to people unvaccinated against COVID-19 due to concerns patients could be at a high risk of contracting the virus.

The hospital says the reason for the policy change is the immunosuppressant drugs transplant recipients must take after receiving a new organ so their body does not reject it.

Unvaccinated people will also no longer be able to become a living organ donor over fears Covid may be able to transmit through the procedure.

'The health and safety of our patients is our top priority,' Cleveland Clinic wrote in a statement sent to DailyMail.com.

'Cleveland Clinic has recently developed safety protocols for solid organ transplantation that require COVID-19 vaccination to be an active transplant candidate or living donor.

'Vaccination is particularly important in these patients for their safety.'

Transplant recipients will have until November 1 to get vaccinated, or they will be removed from the waitlist.

For transplants involving a living donor, such as for kidney and liver transplants, the person giving the organ will need to be vaccinated as well.

'Living donation for organ transplantation has been a life-saving treatment, but it is not without risks to the donor,' the clinic wrote in the statement.

[link to www.dailymail.co.uk (secure)]