Covid Vaccines
Unto us a child is born, Jesus Christ the Lord!
Covid-19 vaccines are now available and being given out world-wide by the millions. Many people have asked me what the moral ramifications of these vaccines are, as many of them are derived from immoral sources. There are three issues as I see them:
The moral ramifications of a given vaccine (there are many different vaccines);
Whether there are long term health consequences of taking a vaccine which we do not yet know;
Whether you should use a vaccine given these two points, considering the immediate need to keep yourself and others safe.
The first issue deals with the moral development of a vaccine: did scientists use immoral means to create a vaccine, and if they did, could that vaccine still be used? The Word of God (Bible), all of the Church’s 2000 year moral tradition, and common sense, tell us that it is evil to do something evil to achieve a good end. For example: it’s evil to cheat on a test so that you can be certified to do a job, so you can be gainfully employed (a good thing); it’s evil to steal money from someone so you can pay medical bills (a good thing); it’s evil to kill one man so that others might live (a good thing). This last example is taken straight from John 11:50, where Caiaphas the high priest tells the Sanhedrin that Jesus should die: “that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” The ends don’t justify the means.
While it is evil to do something evil for a good thing to follow, it can be morally permissible to use something good even if it came from something evil. An easy example of this would be two people fornicating and having an unintentional child; fornication is gravely evil, but the child isn’t. An example we used in the seminary of this moral question was the true case of Nazi doctors in WWII using living Jews to conduct medical experiments that would lead to their deaths. These medical experiments were murderous, yet the information that was obtained is morally neutral and thus has been used by doctors the world over ever since.
Regarding the various vaccines that are currently being used (or are just about to be) some of the vaccines origins and/or means of testing them may have been evil. Yet despite the evil origins of some of the vaccines, they may still be morally okay to use. Please read the US bishops statement on this below.
The second issue is whether or not a given vaccine is safe to use in the long run. This is an answer the medical community doesn’t yet have, yet it feels strongly that they are safe enough to use now, or that at least they are better than no vaccine at all.
Now to the third issue: whether or not you should be vaccinated given the above information. This is ultimately your call. If you have respiratory issues or are 65 and older with a pre-existing medical condition, the groups most at risk, then you should strongly consider (in consultation with your medical provider) getting a morally approved vaccine when you can. The same goes for those who live and work with this group: family members, caregivers, medical personnel, etc. For these people, the consensus is that the danger the virus poses outweighs the danger of the potential long term side effects from a vaccine.
Below are two articles on this matter: one from Dan Brown at Spirit Daily who addresses much the same issues I have above; and the other a press release from the US Bishops on the moral acceptability of certain vaccines. Please read both.
Fr. Thomas Nathe
View From Here: The Great Vaccine Decision
https://spiritdailyblog.com/commentary/the-vaccine-conundrum
December 17, 2020 by Dan Brown
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? That is now the question.
And the answer will only be found in prayer.
Currently, there is too little known for a person to make a judgment totally upon physiological and epidemiological knowledge.
The U.S. bishops tell us it is morally okay to take two of the three vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna, but not AstraZeneca). While cell lines from aborted tissue were used in development of the first two, the claim is that no remnants are in the vaccine itself. That’s not true of AstraZeneca, which does contain such clones, and which the bishops warn to steer clear from. Of course, once approved, unfortunately, AstraZeneca is forecast to be the most popular globally due to easier shipment and lower cost. It also requires just one shot.
There are other questions: What are the chances of getting sick from any of the three, whether in the short or long-term? No one can know the long-term effects at this point.
Odds are, if it’s like many vaccines in the past, the immediate results — protection against a raging epidemic — will outweigh those adverse effects that could come down the road. We simply don’t know at this point.
What we do know is that vaccinations in the past have been blamed for everything from immune disorders to autism. The virus from animal tissue used in the polio vaccinations during the 1950s and 1960s has been tracked in cancerous tumors that developed decades later, including brain malignancies such as glioblastoma multiforme. That’s a simple fact. Currently, a couple of serious adverse reactions to the new covid jab have been reported from Alaska.
So there’s that to consider — and take to the Holy Spirit. Again, odds are against this in the large majority of cases. But only God knows. The urgency of the current situation is biasing health officials, government leaders, and doctors toward the vaccine, a bias that is understandable but to be weighed with other factors, including the spiritual ones. It is complicated by the involvement of Big Pharma and Bill Gates, whom many view with skepticism.
Explains a news network, “Like Pfizer’s vaccine, Moderna’s delivers messenger RNA, or mRNA, which is a genetic recipe for making a piece of the spikes that sit atop the coronavirus. Once injected, the body’s immune system makes antibodies to the spikes. If a vaccinated person is later exposed to the coronavirus, those antibodies should stand at the ready to attack the virus.”
Says Wired Magazine, “Engineers can now design strands of mRNA on computers, guided by algorithms that predict which combination of genetic letters will yield a viral protein with just the right shape to prod the human body into producing protective antibodies.” Thus, genetically-modified stuff will be injected.
The problem with not taking the vaccine is that this virus has characteristics that are much different (in their array and stealth) than most serious contagious diseases. It also may be a synthetic pathogen (escaped from a lab), which would make it more difficult for the natural immune system to battle. Building your immune system with vitamin C seems urgent. The debate is likely to turn white-hot when Moderna’s vaccine is okayed for distribution. It doesn’t need super-cool storage and thus will be more readily available. Its approval is imminent.
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Is there any truth to claims (said to be on the “fringe”) that altered genetic material (RNA) is used in the Pfizer product and could alter DNA in our own bodies, with untold results? Or is this scare stuff on YouTube? (One must be very discerning, even if there is an “M.D.” after someone’s name.) Currently there are no other licensed mRNA vaccines in the United States. There is much money to be made with these vaccines, but that’s not the principle motive, at this point; the principle is desperation to stop the spread of something that kills (yes, only in a small minority of the infections, but can brutally kill nonetheless) and has brought the societies of this world to a grinding halt.
Some claim polio would have disappeared without a vaccine. Some claim the same for smallpox. We’re skeptical about that.
Claims an “anti-vax” author, Vernon Coleman, “In April 2011, the U.S. Health Department’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Programme (UK) released its figures for 2010 and the report showed that allegedly safe childhood vaccines officially killed or injured no less than 2,699 children in the year 2010 in America. The parents of those children received $110 million in damages. The U.S. government has reportedly also paid compensation to the parents of autistic children. And at roughly the same time the Japanese government halted part of its own vaccination program after a number of children had died after being vaccinated.”
But when it comes to covid, it is still a watching and waiting game from where we sit: watching and waiting and praying for the Light of the Infant. [More to come…]
US Bishops Statement
WASHINGTON– On December 14, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued a statement on the new COVID-19 vaccines. In their statement, the bishops address the moral concerns raised by the fact that the three vaccines that appear to be ready for distribution in the United States all have some connection to cell lines that originated with tissue taken from abortions.
With regard to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, they concluded:
“In view of the gravity of the current pandemic and the lack of availability of alternative vaccines, the reasons to accept the new COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are sufficiently serious to justify their use, despite their remote connection to morally compromised cell lines.
“Receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccines ought to be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community. In this way, being vaccinated safely against COVID-19 should be considered an act of love of our neighbor and part of our moral responsibility for the common good.”
With regard to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the bishops found it to be “more morally compromised” and consequently concluded that this vaccine “should be avoided” if there are alternatives available. “It may turn out, however, that one does not really have a choice of vaccine, at least, not without a lengthy delay in immunization that may have serious consequences for one’s health and the health of others,” the bishop chairmen stated. “In such a case … it would be permissible to accept the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
At the same time, the bishops also warned that Catholics “must be on guard so that the new COVID-19 vaccines do not desensitize us or weaken our determination to oppose the evil of abortion itself and the subsequent use of fetal cells in research.”
The full statement from the bishop chairmen may be found here.
