Vaccinate for yourself – and others: health and faith leaders

 

Bill Knight column for 5-3. 4 or 5, 2021

 Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and health-care officials last week launched a program to dispel myths surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine. The $60 million state program – in partnership with OSF Healthcare System, the Illinois Primary Health Care Association, and the Illinois Public Health Association – will build “confidence among our unvaccinated residents,” Pritzker said.

“This program is about one-on-one connections involving established, trusted members of the community,” he said. “Misinformation packaged as truth-telling on social media makes the decision to get vaccinated nerve-racking.”

There’s some confusion about getting COVID-19 vaccinations, which has led to reluctance to get protected and protect others, so concerned health, community and church leaders are appealing to people to get vaccinated since it’s morally acceptable AND an act of charity.

More than 560,000 Americans have died from the virus; and vaccines protect us all and are the nation’s pathway back to life before the pandemic. President Biden’s medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, notes that we continue to suffer 50,000 new infections daily, saying, “That’s a precarious level.”

About 70% of the population must be vaccinated for the country to reach “herd immunity” and be safe, says the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, and the less fortunate are often the most at risk.

Researcher Dalibor Rohac from the conservative American Enterprise Institute said, “The longer it takes to reach herd immunity on a global scale, the longer we will have to live with travel restrictions and ‘vaccine passports,’ not to speak of face masks, nasal swabs, and quarantines.”

(In fact, buying and distributing 16 billion doses of vaccine would cost about $300 billion, a bargain compared to the $16 trillion the pandemic will cost the United States by this fall.)

Reasons for reluctance to get vaccinations range from the ridiculous to the sublime. For example, “A full half of those who consider Fox their primary news source believe that Bill Gates is using a coronavirus vaccine to inject people with a microchip,” wrote conservative commentator S.E. Cupp.

Also, some people opposing abortion are concerned that getting vaccinations supports abortion.

But refusing to get vaccinated not only puts reluctant neighbors in jeopardy, it hurts others – especially the marginalized in our communities.

 “Sickness has a preferential option for the poor,” says Stan Chu Ilo of Catholic Theological Ethics. “COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities in our world. It is affecting the most vulnerable members of our society: children and the elderly.

“None of us is safe until all of us are safe,” he adds. “We are all sick when any one of us is sick.”

Still, 22% of Catholics say they won’t get the shots, according to Pew Research, and some of that hesitancy may be due to misinformation, so church ethicists, Bishops and the Vatican all clearly say it’s morally permissible to receive the vaccine.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich says, “We have a moral responsibility to look out for each other’s benefit, and it is an act of love to get vaccinated. All vaccines are morally acceptable.”

Also, a coalition of 31 Catholic groups – “Catholic Cares,” including Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), the Catholic Health Association (CHA) and Catholic Relief Services – recently urged people to vaccinate for their own good – and the good of others.

“Our faith propels us to act and here is our chance to do that,” said CHA president Sister Mary Haddad.

CCUSA president Sister Donna Markham added, “Each of us plays a part by getting vaccinated and practicing safety measures for the good of all, and by doing everything we can to ensure that those who are most in need have access to the vaccine.”

Leading pro-life scholars with the Ethics & Public Policy Center affirm it’s morally acceptable to get vaccinations produced from embryonic kidney cells from the remains of an aborted fetus from about 50 years ago. That abortion wasn’t been performed for that purpose, EPPC explained, and the cells were changed to continue dividing.

“No fetal ‘body parts’ are present in these immortal cell lines,” the group clarified. “The immortal cell lines are biological products that have been modified and reproduced many times, and they do not retain the natural function of the tissue from which they were derived.”

Further, the cells’ use is widespread, applied in processed and packaged foods, cosmetics and pharmaceutical testing.

“We concluded that one may choose any of these vaccines to protect oneself or one’s community from transmission of the virus without endorsing the abortion that preceded the development of the cell line, incentivizing future abortions, or disrespecting the memory or mortal remains of the baby whose tissue was used,” they said.