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Business

U.S. should pump more oil to avert war-level energy crisis: JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon

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Dimon said in June that he was preparing the bank for an economic “hurricane” caused by the Federal Reserve and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday that the U.S. should forge ahead in pumping more oil and gas to help alleviate the global energy crisis, likening the situation to a national security risk of war-level proportions.

Speaking to CNBC, Dimon dubbed the crisis “pretty predictable” — occurring as it has from Europe’s historic overdependence on Russian energy — and urged Western allies to support the U.S. in taking a lead role in international energy security.

“In my view, America should have been pumping more oil and gas and it should have been supported,” Dimon told CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum at the JPM Techstars conference in London.

“America needs to play a real leadership role. America is the swing producer, not Saudi Arabia. We should have gotten that right starting in March,” he continued, referring to the onset of the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

This should be treated almost as a matter of war at this point, nothing short of that.

Jamie Dimon

CEO, JPMorgan Chase

Europe — once a major importer of Russian energy, relying on the country for up to 45% of its natural gas needs — has been at the forefront of that crisis; facing higher prices and dwindling supply as a result of sanctions levied against the Kremlin.

And while EU nations have hit targets to shore up gas supplies over the coming winter months, Dimon said leaders should now be looking ahead to future energy security concerns.

“We have a longer-term problem now, which is the world is not producing enough oil and gas to reduce coal, make the transition [to green energy], produce security for people,” he said.

“I would put it in the critical category. This should be treated almost as a matter of war at this point, nothing short of that,” he added.

‘It’s Pearl Harbor’

Referring to the war in Ukraine more broadly, Dimon dubbed it an attack of similar magnitude to that of Pearl Harbor or the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

“It’s Pearl Harbor, it’s Czechoslovakia, and it’s really an attack on the Western world,” he said.

However, the CEO said it also presented an opportunity for the West to “get its act together” and defend its values in the face of autocratic regimes.

“The autocratic world thinks that the Western world is a little lazy and incompetent — and there’s a little bit of truth to that,” said Dimon.

“This is the chance to get our act together and to solidify the Western, free, democratic, capitalist, free people, free movements, freedom of speech, free religion for the next century,” he continued.

“Because if we don’t get this one right, that kind of chaos you can see around the world for the next 50 years.”

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Business

Rising gas prices: Local news headlines across the nation highlight pain at the pump

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Local news outlets across the country are putting a spotlight on gas prices, which have been ticking back up in recent weeks. 

Oklahoma newspaper Tulsa World highlighted on Wednesday how gas prices in Tulsa spiked “20 cents per gallon overnight,” jumping to $3.59 following $3.38 the day prior.

WBRC out of Birmingham reported Friday, “Three days ago in Alabama, our state average was $3.19 a gallon. On Friday, we are at $3.32 a gallon and that will only continue to increase,” adding, “With supply and demand forever changing, it’s hard to know right now how much of an increase we will see.”

RISING GAS PRICES IMPACT VOTERS IN KEY MIDTERM STATE: ‘NOBODY SIGNED UP FOR THIS’

San Antonio’s CBS affiliate KENS 5 reported Thursday on the jump of gas prices in Texas going to $3.20 per gallon, writing “That is nine cents more than last week and 35 cents more than the cost last year.”

“Drivers in El Paso are paying the most on average at $3.56 per gallon while drivers in the Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area are paying the least at $3.02 per gallon,” the report added.  

Details from gas station. Gasoline pistols close up shot.
(iStock)

In the Midwest, Detroit News published the headline, “Gas prices keep rising in Michigan, up 23 cents a gallon over last week.”

“This latest increase puts the average pump price at $4.17 for regular unleaded fuel, which is 33 cents more than what Michiganians paid in September and nearly $1 more than this time last year,” Detroit News wrote Monday. “Michigan’s price is nearly 40 cents higher than the national average, at $3.80, according to AAA-The Auto Club Group.”

AFTER OPEC OIL CUT, WASHINGTON POST CLAIMS BIDEN’S FOREIGN POLICY WITH SAUDI ARABIA AS ‘FAILED’ ’BADLY’

FOX 32 in Chicago reported, “Pain at the pump continues as gas prices creep up in Illinois,” offering residents in the Land of Lincoln a warning ahead of OPEC’s announcement that it was slashing oil production. 

“As a result, you can expect pain at the pump to get worse before it gets better,” FOX 32 wrote Monday. “While gas prices are still down from where they peaked in June, here in Chicago, the average price of regular unleaded — $4.81 per gallon according to Triple-A — is once again starting to push dangerously close to the dreaded $5/gallon mark.”

Indianapolis’ WISH-TV reported that gas prices in Indiana topped the $4 mark, writing on Tuesday that average price for gas rose to $4.12 per gallon and how that’s “16 cents higher than last week.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel similarly reported Wednesday, “Average gas prices in Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Green Bay and Oshkosh top $4 a gallon; western Wisconsin has the cheapest gas in the state.”

Out West, the Las Vegas Review Journal informed residents, “Gas prices rise over 40 cents in a week; could go higher before dropping. 

“Regular gasoline prices in Las Vegas reached an average of $5.52 a gallon this week, more than 40 cents higher than the average price one week ago. This is only 9 cents below Las Vegas’ highest recorded average price of $5.61, according to AAA data,” the Review Journal wrote Tuesday. “Average gas price in Nevada is the second-highest in the country, behind California… The state is about $1.70 higher than the national average, and 91 cents lower than California’s average.”

OCTOBER SURPRISE? WHY OPEC’S PLANNED PRICE HIKE COULD PUMMEL DEMOCRATS

Phoenix’s KNXV-TV offered an explainer to residents posing the question in the headline, “Why is Phoenix gas back above $5?”

“The high temperature may be going down in the Valley, but gas prices are going up,” ABC15’s report began Tuesday.

The article cited Gasbuddy analyst Patrick De Haan, who turned to issues at California oil refineries as a source of Phoenix’s financial pain at the pump, writing, ” ABC15 looked at weekly data published by California regulators and found that recent oil inputs in southern California refineries are frequently among the lowest since 2018. The stock of gasoline at refineries specifically formulated for export to states like Arizona and Nevada is also extremely low… Arizona gets about 60% of its gasoline from Southern California with most of it going to the Phoenix area.”

Gas station prices in New Jersey sky-rocketing (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)
(Fox News )

California itself was inundated with stories about the soaring costs. The Los Angeles Times ran the headline, “Record gas prices, electricity woes show California’s worsening energy vulnerabilities.” CBS Sacramento anchor Adrienne Moore told viewers that the pain at the pump “is becoming unbearable,” noting that California was “just a few cents away from another record.” FOX KTVU out of Oakland published the article, “California about to break all-time high gasoline price.”

The Seattle Times reported on the “acute spike” in gas prices affecting the west, particularly in Washington, where the price per gallon was “$1.39 above the national average” on Oct. 3. 

“At $5.45 a gallon, gas prices in the Seattle area are up 15% from early September when prices fell to their lowest price since April, according to an analysis of federal Energy Information Administration data,” the Times wrote.

CNN ANALYSIS WORRIES GAS PRICE SPIKE COULD HURT DEMOCRATS IN NOVEMBER, ‘HAUNT’ PRESIDENT BIDEN

Alaska’s News Source reporter Lauren Maxwell told viewers on Tuesday, “You’re not crazy” to notices that gas prices “have taken a huge jump in just the last week or so,” highlighting Alaska’s average price per gallon at $5.41.

“Good luck trying to find it that low in Anchorage,” Maxwell said. 

High gas prices are posted at a full service gas station in Beverly Hills, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021. The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline jumped by 5 cents over the past two weeks, to $3.49 per gallon. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
( (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes))

Out East, Clay Moden, 106.5 WYRK radio host out of Buffalo, New York, warned residents on Thursday about soaring gas prices headed their way, writing, “Love to drive but hate the gas prices? It is not going to get any better any time soon here in New York State. The prices change more than the weather it seems these days.”

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Spectrum News 1 in Syracuse listed the average prices in cities across New York on Saturday, writing, “In Buffalo, it’s $3.69. It’s the same down the thruway in Rochester. Continuing on to Syracuse, gas is a tad cheaper there with gas averaging $3.59. And in Albany, it’s $3.64.”

Following OPEC’s announcement FOX 23 Maine reported on gas prices jumping overnight, warning residents on Thursday, “The pain at the pump returns. Gas prices are up overnight, and this could just be the start.”

Gas prices are top of mind for voters as inflation and the economy continue to be the biggest issues according to the polls going into the midterm elections.

Joe Silverstein is a production assistant for Fox News Digital. 

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Science

‘Unexpected’ NASA James Webb Space Telescope Test Image Will Pump You Up

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I feel like I’m having one of those cartoon moments where your eyeballs pop out of the sockets because you’re seeing something immensely cool. NASA released a test image from the James Webb Space Telescope this week as an appetizer ahead of the main course of the observatory’s first big image reveal on July 12, and it’s a beauty.

Webb is on a mission to peer into the early universe, seek out exoplanets and galaxies and tease out new secrets from the cosmos.

The image comes from the Fine Guidance Sensor, or FGS, an instrument with a main purpose of allowing the telescope to point precisely. Essentially, it helps Webb aim at its targets and stay on track to make observations. The FGS view of stars and galaxies is “a tantalizing glimpse at what the telescope’s science instruments will reveal in the coming weeks, months, and years,”  NASA said in a statement on Wednesday.

The full image shows a bevy of galaxies and stars (the ones with the points).


NASA, CSA, and FGS team

The stars stand out as the objects with points radiating from them. The other bright objects are galaxies. It’s the result of 72 exposures taken over 32 hours in mid-May. It represents one of the deepest images of the universe ever taken. 

The Webb team described the image as “unexpected” and a “glamor shot” in a tweet on Wednesday.

The FGS snap was part of a successful test during a monthslong preparation period before Webb began to conduct science observations in earnest. “In this engineering test, the purpose was to lock onto one star and to test how well Webb could control its ‘roll’ — literally, Webb’s ability to roll to one side like an aircraft in flight,” said NASA.

This preview is enough to get scientists and space fans alike pumped for seeing the first major image release, next week. Said Webb operations scientist Jane Rigby: “The faintest blobs in this image are exactly the types of faint galaxies that Webb will study in its first year of science operations.”

When you’re through feasting your eyes, be sure to mark your calendar for NASA’s July 12 Webb images unveiling. It’s going to be a celebration.



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US

Biden asks Congress to pause gas tax to help lower record pump prices

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WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Congress to pass a three-month suspension of the federal gasoline tax to help combat record pump prices and provide temporary relief for American families this summer.

“We can bring down the price of gas and give families just a little bit of relief,” Biden said in a White House address.

The president also urged states to temporarily suspend state fuel taxes, which are often higher than federal rates, the official said, and will challenge major oil companies to bring ideas on how to bring back idled refining capacity when they meet with his energy secretary on Thursday.

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Biden and his advisers have been discussing the issue for months amid increasing pressure to act as record-high gas prices weigh down the president’s poll ratings and cast a dark cloud over Democrats’ chances of retaining congressional power in November’s elections.

A suspension of the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gasoline tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax would require congressional approval, likely making Biden’s pitch largely symbolic.

Lawmakers in both parties have expressed resistance to suspending the tax, with some Democrats, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, worried the move could have limited effect on prices if oil companies and retailers pocket much of the savings.

Biden asked Congress to suspend the fuel tax through September, a move that will cost the Highway Trust Fund roughly $10 billion in forgone revenue but could be made up from other areas of a budget that is seeing revenue grow and deficits shrink as the United States emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Peter DeFazio, a Democrat and the chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, told reporters Wednesday a federal gas tax holiday would provide “miniscule relief” while blowing a budget hole in a Highway Trust Fund needed to fix crumbling bridges and build a modern infrastructure system.”

Some states, such as New York and Connecticut, have already paused state fuel taxes, while others have floated ideas such as consumer rebates and direct relief.

Refiners are struggling to meet global demand for diesel and gasoline, exacerbating high prices and aggravating shortages. read more

“Pausing the federal gas tax will certainly provide near-term relief for U.S. drivers, but it won’t solve the root of the issue – the imbalance in supply and demand for petroleum products,” a spokesperson for the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers industry group said.

Longer-term policies are still needed to boost U.S. energy production, it said.

U.S. pump prices are averaging near $5 a gallon as soaring demand for motor fuels coincides with the loss of about 1 million barrels per day of processing capacity. In the last three years many plants were closed when fuel demand cratered at the height of the pandemic. read more

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Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; additional reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Susan Heavey, Nick Zieminski and Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Why New Jersey and Oregon still don’t let you pump your own gas

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But not people in New Jersey and Oregon. They’re not allowed to touch the gas nozzle. Seriously.

In New Jersey, it’s been illegal for drivers to pump their own gas since 1949. A ban on self-service gas has been in place in Oregon since 1951, although the state relaxed restrictions for rural towns a few years ago. Violators can be fined up to $500 for breaking these states’ laws.

So why don’t New Jersey and Oregon let you pump your own gas? And what happened to the days of gas station attendants filling up your tanks in the rest of the country?

It’s a strange, complex history that dates back more than a century.

Self-service bans

The United States has experimented with self-service gas since the first stations were built in the early 1900s. Yet it wasn’t until about 1980 that self-service became the primary gas station model in this country.

“Their rise to the top was not a smooth one,” write Ronald Johnson and Charles Romeo in a 2000 study on the growth of self-service.

The earliest self-service gas pumps in the United States appeared around 1915. They were designed primarily for emergencies or for after dark when gas stations were closed. People would pre-pay with coins to operate them.

Full-service gas stations adamantly opposed self-service. They saw cheaper, self-service gas as a competitive threat to their business and wanted to limit its spread.

Fuel sales have slim profit margins. Gas stations made their money and distinguished their brands by offering a variety of services such as oil and battery checks, windshield wiping and vehicle repairs. Station attendants in full uniforms — some wearing bow ties — filled up customers’ tanks, a key part of their larger service strategy to attract drivers in the first half of the 20th century.

Full-service gas stations played up safety hazards around self-service, arguing that untrained drivers would overfill their tanks and start a fire. With support from local fire marshals, gas stations lobbied state legislators to pass bans on self-service. By 1968, self-service was banned in 23 states.

It was not until the success of self-service internationally and a crucial change in gas stations’ business model that self-service began replacing attendants in the United States.

“Modern self-service gas stations actually were pioneered in Sweden,” said Matt Anderson, the curator of transportation at The Henry Ford museum in Michigan. “Drivers there paid less for self-service than for full-service. From there the concept spread through Europe.”

At the same time, vehicle warranties began to stipulate that cars must be serviced at dealerships, a shift that eroded gas stations’ service and repair business.

“Traditional full-service gas stations lost their profit center in automotive repairs and were forced to change their method of operation,” said Wayne Henderson, the author of the book “One Hundred Years of Gas Stations.”

Gas stations had to look for new ways to grow profit. They moved to self-service, which reduced their costs and increased volumes on gas sales, and they diversified into selling food, tobacco, coffee, snacks and other items with higher margins.

Self-service “ended up being more popular because it could create large volumes and opportunities for other profit,” said Gary Scales, a doctoral candidate at Temple University writing a dissertation on the history of gas stations.

Gas station operators began pushing states to repeal their self-service bans. By 1992, around 80% of all gas stations nationwide were self-service, up from just 8% two decades prior.

‘Political third rail’

Despite frequent legislative attempts, court challenges and opposition from the gas station industry, New Jersey and much of Oregon still don’t permit self-service.

Oregon’s law says it’s in the public interest to maintain the ban. Allowing self-service would increase fire hazards, create challenges for elderly citizens and drivers with disabilities and lead to gas station attendant job losses, according to the stature.
In 1982, Oregon voters defeated a ballot measure to overturn the ban, but more recent polling shows attitudes in the state are split. A 2014 poll found that Oregon residents were almost evenly divided on the subject, with 44% backing a move to self-service and 46% in favor of keeping the ban.

Oregon relaxed its ban in 2018, allowing self-service for drivers in rural counties with populations under 40,000.

In New Jersey, the self-service ban, along with the state’s reputation for low gas prices, is part of its culture. “Jersey Girls Don’t Pump Gas,” proclaims a popular bumper sticker.

Attempting to overturn the ban has been seen as a loser politically.

“On self-service gas, that’s been sort of a political third rail in New Jersey,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in April.
But record gas prices and gas stations’ struggles to find workers have led to renewed attempts by New Jersey gas station industry advocates to lift the ban. In May, 75 gas stations in the state lowered prices in an effort to gain support for allowing self-service gas.
It’s unlikely that the state will allow drivers to pump their own gas anytime soon, however. The president of the state’s Senate opposes a bill that would end New Jersey’s ban.
The state’s residents have little interest in self-service. A March poll found that 73% of them say they prefer having their gas pumped for them.

“There is apparently one thing all New Jerseyans can agree on nowadays,” Ashley Koning, the director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, said when the poll was released. “And that’s the time-honored Jersey tradition of having your gas pumped for you.”

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Business

Saudi Arabia ready to pump more oil if Russian output sinks under ban

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Saudi Arabia has indicated to western allies that it is prepared to raise oil production should Russia’s output fall substantially under the weight of sanctions, according to five people familiar with the discussions.

The kingdom has resisted calls from the White House to accelerate production increases despite oil prices trading near $120 a barrel, the highest level in a decade, arguing that the energy crunch could get significantly worse this year. Saudi Arabia believes it needs to keep spare production capacity in reserve.

But fears of outright supply shortages have risen after the EU launched another round of sanctions against Moscow, including a ban on importing seaborne cargoes of Russian oil into the bloc.

The EU has also agreed a deal with the UK to bar the insurance of ships carrying Russian oil later this year, a move analysts said was likely to severely curtail Moscow’s ability to redirect oil to other regions.

“Saudi Arabia is aware of the risks and that it is not in their interests to lose control of oil prices,” said one person briefed on the kingdom’s thinking.

Oil prices fell on Thursday, dropping to a low of $112.80 a barrel in early trading from $116.29 at the close on Wednesday. Prices hit a two-month high above $120 a barrel this week.

Saudi Arabia’s view is that while the oil market is undoubtedly tight, which has buoyed the rise in prices, there are not yet genuine shortages, according to diplomats and industry sources briefed on the discussions, which came ahead of a monthly meeting of the Opec+ oil producer alliance on Thursday.

But that could change as the global economic recovery from Covid-19, including the reopening of major cities in China, boosts demand, while the likelihood of Russia’s oil output declining substantially has increased. Russia was producing more than 10 per cent of global crude before its invasion of Ukraine.

There have been tensions between the US and the Saudi leadership, including with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly rejected calls from the White House and the G7 to accelerate production increases immediately.

But several visits in recent weeks from a high-level US delegation, including Brett McGurk, White House co-ordinator for Middle East policy, and Amos Hochstein, White House energy envoy, have helped improve the relationship, according to a person familiar with the diplomacy.

People familiar with the talks said Saudi Arabia had agreed to a shift in tone to try to calm prices as part of a rapprochement with Joe Biden’s administration. It has also offered reassurances that it would eventually respond by raising production should a supply crunch hit the oil market.

“Such steps are in the realm of the possible in response to materially positive movement on the US side,” said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi commentator familiar with the leadership’s thinking, referring to efforts to smooth relations ahead of a possible visit by President Biden this year.

One diplomatic source said there had been discussions about an immediate increase in production from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which could be announced at Thursday’s Opec+ meeting. But nothing has yet been finalised, and Opec+ could still stick with its production plan that has been in place since the beginning of the Covid crisis.

Production increases scheduled for September would be brought forward to July and August, the source said, although the group would have to approve the change.

Christyan Malek, head of oil and gas at JPMorgan, said Saudi Arabia was still “wary of using up all its spare capacity” as “it believes it needs enough in reserve to be able to respond to what may well develop in the market”.

“While burning through all its spare capacity now would be premature, they are willing to respond if the market starts to get out of control. They view spare capacity as the last line of defence against the recessionary risk of oil spiralling higher.”

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the half-brother of the crown prince, has emphasised that he still views Russia as a critical partner in the Opec+ alliance. The countries have led the expanded oil producers group since 2016.

However, Moscow could be offered an exemption from its output target should its production decline substantially. Both Libya and Iran have previously been made exempt from Opec+ targets when war and sanctions hampered their ability to produce.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is visiting Riyadh this week, meeting his Saudi and UAE counterparts. They reaffirmed their agreement to keep co-operating in Opec+. The oil exporters’ group cut output sharply in April 2020 but has been adding back some production each month.

“Even as Saudi-US relations move towards rapprochement, the kingdom is not going to turn its back on Russia,” said Amrita Sen at Energy Aspects, a consultancy.

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US

Lawmakers consider pump relief stimulus

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Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett weighs in on a path toward a stronger U.S. energy sector on ‘The Evening Edit.’

Lawmakers are proposing ways to provide some relief at the pump as record-high gas prices hit drivers in the wallet.

It could come in the form of a stimulus check, similar to the pandemic relief program.

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That’s one idea pitched by House Democrats, according to FOX 59.

The Biden administration briefly considered sending out gas cards through the IRS.

The average price for a regular gallon of gas stood at $4.24 nationally on March 22, according to AAA.

Reps. Mike Thompson of California, John Larson of Connecticut and Lauren Underwood of Illinois are calling for an energy rebate of $100 per month for individuals or $200 for couples for each month the national gas price exceeds $4 per gallon.

Californians are dealing with the nation’s highest gas prices. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out a proposal on Wednesday, a plan that could provide a tax break, free rides on public transit and up to $800 on debit cards to help pay for fuel.

JAMIE DIMON CALLS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF DOMESTIC GAS AND ENERGY RESOURCES: A NEW ‘MARSHALL PLAN’

The money would go to everyone who has a car registered with the state. For people who don’t have cars, Newsom wants the state to pay for their bus or train fare for three months, according to the Associated Press.

Connecticut lawmakers have moved closer toward temporarily suspending the state’s 25-cent-per-gallon excise tax on gasoline in a bipartisan effort to ease the pain at the pump for motorists. (AP Photo/Douglas Healey, File).

Two other proposals depend on profits from oil companies.

KEMP SIGNS LAW SUSPENDING GEORGIA GAS TAXES THROUGH MAY

Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio’s proposal calls for families to receive a monthly tax credit. The measure would come from a one-time tax on oil companies. 

“Big Oil will pay a one-time, 50 percent windfall profit tax on any adjusted taxable income (ATI) in 2022 that exceeds 110 percent of their average ATI during pre-pandemic levels between 2015-2019,” said DeFazio.

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An earlier proposal from Rep. Ro Khanna of California and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, calls for a quarterly rebate with the money raised by taxing oil companies.

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Health

Father of unvaccinated man denied heart transplant says his son has received a heart pump

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The family of a Massachusetts man who claims he’s been denied a heart transplant because he’s not vaccinated against COVID-19 is speaking out this week, saying they are devastated over a hospital policy that says he isn’t eligible to have the procedure.

David Ferguson Jr., known as D.J., has been receiving treatment at hospitals around Boston since late November after suffering complications from atrial fibrillation and deteriorating heart failure, according to a fundraising appeal set up by his mother, Tracey Ferguson.

The 31-year-old was told by Brigham & Women’s Hospital officials that he is ineligible for the transplant, according to the fundraising post, because he has not been vaccinated against the deadly virus.

The Ferguson family has been active online and in the media about D.J.’s story.

“My son has gone to the edge of death to stick to his guns and he’s been pushed to the limit,” D.J.’s father, David Ferguson, told WBZ earlier this week. The family also appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox Wednesday where they commended the care Ferguson was receiving at Brigham and Women’s, but expressed frustration over the transplant policy.

“It sucks because his nurses have been amazing to him, his doctors have been amazing to him,” Heather Dawson, Ferguson’s partner, told Carlson.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital has declined to comment on Ferguson’s case, citing patient privacy laws. But the policy posted on its website states: “Our Mass General Brigham healthcare system requires several CDC-recommended vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, and lifestyle behaviors for transplant candidates to create both the best chance for a successful operation and to optimize the patient’s survival after transplantation, given that their immune system is drastically suppressed. Patients are not active on the waitlist without this.”

Research shows that transplant recipients are at a much higher risk of dying from COVID-19 when compared to non-transplant patients, the Brigham policy states. The guidance is in line with that of the American Society of Transplantation, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, and International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.

“Like most other transplant programs across the country, the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several vaccines and lifestyle behaviors that are required for patients awaiting solid organ transplant,” according to the policy.

There are currently more than 100,000 candidates on waitlists for organ transplantation and there’s a shortage of organs available. “Around half of people on waiting lists will not receive an organ within 5 years,” the hospital said.

In a post on Facebook linking to another fundraising campaign on GoFundMe, Dawson noted where her family stands on the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Is my family vaccinated? No. Do I need to explain why? No. Do we care if you’re vaccinated? No,” Dawson wrote. “Is DJ in a position where he now needs a vaccine to get a life saving procedure? Yes. Is he going to chose to die instead of getting it? No.”

In an interview with the Associated Press, Tracey Ferguson said her son isn’t against vaccinations but that he has concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine because of his heart condition.

“D.J. is an informed patient,” Tracey Ferguson told AP. “He wants to be assured by his doctors that his condition would not be worse or fatal with this COVID vaccine.”

According to ABC News and to the GoFundMe post, D.J. underwent open-heart surgery on Tuesday where a pump was inserted that will “mechanically pump his heart until a donor heart becomes available.” In the Carlson interview, David Ferguson said his son’s surgery took seven hours. “So now my boy has a pump,” he said, “he’s in recovery.”

The Fergusons told ABC News the pump promises to keep D.J. alive for as long as five years.

Hospitals in other states also have policies stating that patients who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 are ineligible for transplant procedures. In Colorado last year, a woman suffering from late-stage kidney disease said she was denied a transplant by her hospital because she was unvaccinated, according to the AP.

Brittany Bowker can be reached at brittany.bowker@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @brittbowker.



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Health

Man removed from heart transplant list for being unvaccinated gets emergency pump

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The 31-year-old father who was removed from the heart transplant list at a Boston hospital because he refuses to get the COVID-19 vaccine has undergone emergency surgery to be fitted with a mechanical heart pump.

DJ Ferguson’s family has said he was first on the list to receive the transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital — but that he was no longer eligible because of his vaccination status.

On Tuesday, the father of two received a mechanical heart pump — called a left ventricular assist device — that should keep him alive for up to five years, according to ABC News.

“For the foreseeable future, he won’t be able to shower, he won’t be able to swim. He won’t be able to have a life,” his father, David Ferguson, told the news outlet.

Despite the open-heart surgery, Ferguson still needs a transplant urgently due to his rapid deterioration, his parents told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Wednesday.

“He got led down a path where they had to stop doing procedures where they said he was qualified nonetheless for the heart transplant. But he had to get the vaccine in order to get that transplant,” David Ferguson said on the program, Fox News reported.

DJ is currently expecting a third child with his partner, Heather.

“He’s deteriorated so much so quickly that they had to resort to open-heart surgery and doing the LVAD [left ventricular assist device] mechanical pump,” he said. “So now my boy has a pump, he’s in recovery. He went through seven hours of surgery.”

The patient’s mother, Tracy Ferguson, told Carlson she was “devastated by the news” that her son was deemed ineligible for a transplant.

Meanwhile, DJ’s partner, Heather, with whom he is expecting a third child, praised the care he has been receiving but lamented his “disheartening” predicament.

“It’s terrible. It sucks because his nurses are amazing. They have been amazing to him. His doctors have been amazing to him,” she told Carlson.

DJ’s father, David Ferguson, said in his current state, his son “won’t be able to have a life.”
Fox News

“But having that dangled over our head at the very last minute after he had been through all the testing, after he received his letter saying that he was accepted onto the transplant list, it is just so disheartening that they would hang this over his head right at the last moment,” Heather added.

David Ferguson has said his son doesn’t believe in the COVID-19 vaccine.

“It’s kind of against his basic principles, he doesn’t believe in it. It’s a policy they are enforcing and so because he won’t get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant,” he told CBS Boston.

The parents later insisted their son does not oppose vaccines, saying he just worries the jab would complicate his heart condition.

DJ Ferguson reportedly went through seven hours of open heart surgery.
Family handout

“He’s not an anti-vaxxer. He has all of his vaccines, and he’s an informed patient who is concerned because of his current cardiac crisis,” Tracey Ferguson told ABC News.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which is a Harvard teaching facility, said research had shown transplant recipients were at a much higher risk of dying from COVID compared to non-transplant patients.

“We do everything we can to ensure that a patient who receives a transplanted organ has the greatest chance of survival,” a spokesperson told The Post.

“Our Mass General Brigham health care system requires several CDC-recommended vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, and lifestyle behaviors for transplant candidates to create both the best chance for a successful operation and to optimize the patient’s survival after transplantation, given that their immune system is drastically suppressed,” the rep said.

DJ’s partner, Heather, said it was “so disheartening that they would hang this over his head right at the last moment.”
Family Handout

“Patients are not active on the waitlist without this,” the spokesperson said, adding that the hospital’s policy requiring recipients to have the COVID-19 shot is in line with many other transplant programs across the US.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends that immunocompromised people, which includes organ transplant recipients, be vaccinated because they are especially vulnerable to COVID.

The hospital denied that a candidate could be “first on the list” for a transplant because there are varying levels of priority for allocation of organs.

Ferguson has been hospitalized since November ever since his lungs started filling with blood and fluid due to a hereditary heart issue, according to a GoFundMe page set up for him.

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Father of two, 31, refused heart transplant because he isn’t vaxxed for COVID has heart pump fitted

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A 31-year-old father of two has undergone open heart surgery to fit a pump that will only keep him alive another five years after he was refused a transplant because he would not get vaccinated against COVID-19.

DJ Ferguson underwent a procedure to fit a mechanical heart pump, called a left ventricular assist device, which will last for up to five years. 

The device was fitted at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, where Ferguson was admitted in November, suffering from a hereditary heart condition that causes his lungs and heart to fill with blood and fluid.

On Wednesday night his mother, Tracey; father, David; and girlfriend Heather Dawson – the mother of his children – told Fox News of their devastation at the hospital’s refusal to grant Ferguson a transplant.  

David Ferguson said that the grueling open heart surgery was a last resort, and a poor alternative to a transplant. 

‘He had to get the vaccine in order to get that transplant,’ he told Tucker Carlson.

‘His heart deteriorated so much, so quickly, that they had to resort to open heart surgery and doing the L-VAD (left ventricular assist device) mechanical pump,’ he explained.

‘So now my boy has a pump – he’s in recovery. He went through seven hours of surgery.’

His mother, from Mendon, 30 miles southwest of Boston, said: ‘We are devastated by the news.

‘He just got out of open heart surgery yesterday, he had to have a valve put in place.

‘Now he is in need of a transplant.

‘So I find myself – you know, you are sad.’

Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night spoke to Heather Dawson, the girlfriend of DJ Ferguson, and Ferguson’s parents Tracey and David

Ferguson, 31, underwent open heart surgery on Tuesday, his family said

Ferguson is seen with his girlfriend Heather Dawson, the mother of his two children

DJ Ferguson, 31 (pictured) has a hereditary heart condition that causes his lungs and heart to fill with blood and fluid without intervention from intravenous medication. He has been denied a life-saving heart transplant because he refuses to get vaccinated against COVID-19

Factors that can disqualify patients from organ transplants 

  • Not being vaccinated for COVID 
  • Untreated psychological disorders, like schizophrenia, that could prevent the patient from properly caring for themselves after the transplant
  • A high risk of abusing alcohol after the transplant
  • Active cigarette smoking within six months of the prospective transplant 
  • Substance abuse 
  • Obesity
  • Severe local or systemic infection 
  • Cancer in the last 5 years except localized skin (not melanoma) or stage I breast or prostate 
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Age appropriateness (for example, heart transplant recipients should not be more than 70 years of age, according to John Hopkins University guidelines)
  • Inability to make a strong commitment to transplantation
  • Insulin-requiring diabetes mellitus with end-organ damage
  • Irreversible renal failure
  • Acute pulmonary thromboembolism
  • Inability to pay for transplant or post-operative care 

Asked by Carlson how she felt, she replied: ‘Where this leaves me?

‘It leaves me just hopeful right now.’ 

Earlier, she told ABC News her son was not an anti-vaxxer.

‘He’s not an anti-vaxxer. He has all of his vaccines, and he’s an informed patient who is concerned because of his current cardiac crisis,’ she said. 

Her son is concerned about the potential for the COVID vaccine to cause an inflammation of the heart. Doctors say, however, that the risk of getting infected by COVID is far more serious than any temporary risk of heart inflammation.

Furthermore, after a transplant the immune system is essentially shut off, to prevent the transplanted organ being rejected – rendering the patient extremely vulnerable.

David Ferguson said their son was an anti-vaxxer.

He said previously that getting vaccinated is ‘kind of against his basic principles’ and that his son ‘doesn’t believe in it.’

‘I think my boy is fighting pretty damn courageously and he has integrity and principles he really believes in – and that makes me respect him all the more,’ he said.

‘It’s his body. It’s his choice.’  

Ferguson’s girlfriend Heather Dawson said on Wednesday the ordeal had been ‘terrible’. 

‘It sucks because his nurses are amazing,’ she told Carlson.

‘They have been amazing to him. His doctors have been amazing to him.

Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital (pictured) removed Ferguson from its donor list because has not gotten the COVID-19 vaccine and said in a statement that their aim is to ‘create both the best chance for successful operation and also the patient’s survival after transplantation’

‘But having that dangled over her head at the very last minute, after he had been through all the testing, after he received his letter saying that he was accepted onto the transplant list…

‘It is just so disheartening that they would hang out over his head right the last moment.’

The hospital said it removed Ferguson from the donor list because all transplant recipients needed to be vaccinated in order to ‘create both the best chance for successful operation and also the patient’s survival after transplantation.’  

Dawson, in an appeal for funds to support the family, said Ferguson was already ‘high risk’ for the vaccine due to his swollen heart. 

‘He is at extremely high risk of sudden death if it does,’ she wrote, of fears his heart could swell. ‘We are literally in a corner right now. This is extremely time sensitive. 

‘We’re being pressured to choose a shot that could kill him. 

‘This is not just a political issue. People need to have a choice!’ she said. 

Ferguson (right) is pictured with his girlfriend, Heather Dawson, and their two children

Ferguson’s family is considering moving him to another hospital, but he may not be able to be moved in his condition

‘After almost 50 days in the hospital with no answers, DJ was finally seen by some of the best cardiac specialists last week,’ Dawson updated on GoFundMe. 

‘After running countless tests and scans we learned that DJ is now in severe end stage heart failure, meaning that he is going to need a heart transplant to live.

‘On top of the heart failure his heart is extremely swollen and dilated. Which puts him at high risk of cardiac arrest,’ she said. 

‘The bad news is that the transplant board will not actively list him due to his vaccination status.’  

The hospital, which has a list of protocols for transplant candidates that includes a ban on lifestyle choices like smoking and alcohol, said requiring the COVID-19 vaccine is common at many medical center’s throughout the country. 

The mortality rate for transplant recipients who fall ill with COVID is more than 20 percent, according to UCHealth.  

Dr. Arthur Caplan, the head of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told CBS Boston that vaccination is a requirement for transplants because, after receiving a new organ, patients’ immune systems are essentially switched off.

‘The flu could kill you, a cold could kill you, COVID could kill you,’ he said. 

‘The organs are scarce, we are not going to distribute them to someone who has a poor chance of living when others who are vaccinated have a better chance post-surgery of surviving.’

Ferguson is not the first patient in need of a transplant who has been denied due to their vaccination status.  

In October, Leilani Lutali of Colorado, 56, was taken off the transplant list at a University of Colorado Health hospital because she and her prospective kidney donor Jaimee Fougner, 45, had not received the COVID-19 vaccine. 

In October, Leilani Lutali of Colorado, 56 (pictured), was taken off the transplant list at a University of Colorado Health hospital because she and her prospective kidney donor hadn’t gotten the COVID-19 vaccine

The pair were placed on a list for those who are ‘non-compliant by not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.’ 

Lutali, a Born-again Christian, has refused to get inoculated because of the use of stem cells in developing some vaccines.

‘As a Christian, I can’t support anything that has to do with abortion of babies, and the sanctity of life for me is precious,’ Lutali said.

Fougner, Lutali’s friend and potential donor, has also denied the vaccine citing religious reasons.

Cells taken from elective abortions have been used to develop effective vaccines since the 1960s including current vaccines for rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis A, and shingles.

None of the COVID-19 vaccines contain aborted fetal cells, as some social media users have been falsely claiming. 

But they did utilize fetal cell lines in their development. 

Ohio man Mike Ganin, who is vaccinated against COVID, was denied a kidney transplant last October because his donor hadn’t received her shot.

‘I don’t want to get the vaccine. I’ve got reasons — medical, religious, and also freedom,’ the donor, Sue George, told WKYC. 

UCHealth, which operates hospitals and urgent care facilities throughout Colorado, said that the COVID-19 vaccine was one of several measures patients needed to take to give the organ the best chance of not being rejected. 

‘An organ transplant is a unique surgery that leads to a lifetime of specialized management to ensure an organ is not rejected, which can lead to serious complications, the need for a subsequent transplant surgery, or even death,’ UCHealth told The Post at the time.

‘Physicians must consider the short and long-term health risks for patients as they consider whether to recommend an organ transplant.’ 

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