what a difficult situation. As a doctor, I support vaccine mandates. And masking. I think our "rights" are trumped (no pun intended) by the greater good. and our right to not mask or vaccinate is not a real right. I sympathize with those that have come to the conclusion that their conscious cannot condone getting the vaccine; I don't have a good answer for them.
As an American who supports the Bill of Rights, I oppose vaccine mandates. As an educated free thinker who follows science, I oppose vaccine mandates. As a person who has acquired natural immunity (which scientific studies have shown to be much more effective and long-lived than any vaccine), I oppose vaccine mandates. As an observant Catholic who questions the claimed moral distance from the dependence upon tainted aborted fetal cells to these vaccines, I oppose vaccine mandates. Finally, as a Catholic who believes, and tries to live, the ideal of "momento mori", I oppose vaccine mandates.
(Stepping down off the soapbox now.) My point is that we have lost perspective in current times. We are not here to live a "good life" - we are here to live *well*, and as Catholics (and Catholic Americans), that means living 1) with the next life in sight always, plus living 2) with our succeeding generations' lives in mind, such that they might enjoy the freedom we do so that *they* can choose to live well also. Both 1 and 2 are blessings, and we need to consider them as such.
Secular America largely has very different goals. They are welcome to them, as long as they permit those of us who subscribe to the goals given above the freedom to pursue them unencumbered.
God bless each of you, and God bless this country.
Vaccine mandates are not necessary. For those under 65 years of age and healthy, Covid is not Smallpox of a century ago, and has less of a death rate than during a severe flu season. For those over 65, especially those in convalescent homes, or those with comorbidities, and due to the coerced lack of other medical options, "proportional" moral reasoning could be used to support people to take the vaccine if they feel vulnerable and choose to do so. Thus, it is a private, medical and moral decision, protected by the 1996 federal HIPPA law, that should be made in consultation with one's doctor, and that doctor should be allowed to utilize other treatments, such as Ivermectin and HCQ (successfully shown in India recently to reduce infection rates and severity of the infection by a tremendous rate) and monoclonal antibodies to treat their patient, and also a patient should be able to weigh their decision with their confessor, depending on their circumstance.
Though Pope Francis has spoken of our communal responsibility to get the vaccine in order to stop the spread of the virus, recent studies in Israel and the U.K. published in the Lancet show that those who are vaccinated are more protected from the virus, yet they also carry a higher viral load and thus contribute much more greatly to the spread of the virus than do the unvaccinated. We should be careful of scapegoating the unvaccinated and instead look to how the virus was created, and which political forces are benefitting from the medical tyranny.
Other studies, and just our common experience with the yearly flu, is that natural immunity is more effective. Again, for those healthy and under 65 yrs old, it would be better for them individually to develop natural immunity, and discuss this with their doctor, and for society, it would be better for the virus to die out if most people have natural immunity. Yet, information about how many people have natural immunity is suppressed.
About the morality of taking the vaccine. Yes, the Pro-Life committee of the USCCB stated that it is okay to take the vaccine, that the actual vaccine does not have aborted fetus tissue in it, that it has only a "remote" connection to the original cell lines used, yet in their own statement they say that "cell lines derived from aborted fetuses were used in the testing of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine", which clearly violates what Pope John Paul II said in "The Gospel of Life" n.62 and 63, about experimentation. Do I need to spell out the obvious that JPII goes on to say, that if we do not protect the dignity of life, it will lead to a darkening of conscience and destruction of society?
As for Biden's diversionary political tactic of employer mandates, I ask our Bishops to refuse to comply with this mandate for diocesan staff in chanceries and parish offices, most of whose employees are seeking to be not coerced. If we do this nationwide, this will give support to employees in private business, or even employees in public institutions, like the LA Police Officers who are taking the mandate to court, to support them in their personal moral and medical decisions.
Mandates for schools is a more difficult decision because schools rely on tuition. The reality, though, is that many Catholic schools have been open since a year ago August, and, without vaccines, we have not seen children, even teenagers or young adults at college, have any severe symptoms, and rare hospitalizations, again, no worse than the flu. The difficulty is with the adults, teachers who insist on the vaccine, and parents and adult alumni who donate to the schools, who insist on the vaccines. Yet, the evidence of the past year, when most people were not vaccinated, is that children or adults who work in schools and youth activities were not affected any worse than the flu.
Finally, what is the morality of vaccine mandates here, not necessary for healthy people under 65, when in many poor countries vaccination rates are only 2% ? In India, which has a major pharmaceutical industry, yet only 20% vaccination rate (thus the turn to using Ivermectin, which proved extremely effective)? What of all the elderly people and people in poor health in these countries who need it more than healthy people here?
I am highly disappointed in our American Bishops for not realizing our mission here to help the church in poorer countries, whether it be about vaccine distribution, or speaking out about the human rights abuses in China, the religious persecution, the work camps that make tech products sold here, the organ harvesting, and the Big Tech/International Hedge Fund collusion there or funding the blood diamond type of mining of cobalt and lithium, used to make tech products, in the Congo causing the constant militia attacks throughout that region.
From a parishioner perspective…Our parish has many anti vaxxers including parish staff. Even after one developed a serious (not hospitalized) case, the office staff still eschewed masks let alone vaccines. Our county has 500 new cases per day and almost 100 deaths in the last six weeks. Because I now do not trust my brothers and sisters to keep me safe, I am not attending Mass in person, I do not attend study or other ministries.
what a difficult situation. As a doctor, I support vaccine mandates. And masking. I think our "rights" are trumped (no pun intended) by the greater good. and our right to not mask or vaccinate is not a real right. I sympathize with those that have come to the conclusion that their conscious cannot condone getting the vaccine; I don't have a good answer for them.
What happens to those Bishops who are granting religious exemptions against the Pope's direction?
As an American who supports the Bill of Rights, I oppose vaccine mandates. As an educated free thinker who follows science, I oppose vaccine mandates. As a person who has acquired natural immunity (which scientific studies have shown to be much more effective and long-lived than any vaccine), I oppose vaccine mandates. As an observant Catholic who questions the claimed moral distance from the dependence upon tainted aborted fetal cells to these vaccines, I oppose vaccine mandates. Finally, as a Catholic who believes, and tries to live, the ideal of "momento mori", I oppose vaccine mandates.
(Stepping down off the soapbox now.) My point is that we have lost perspective in current times. We are not here to live a "good life" - we are here to live *well*, and as Catholics (and Catholic Americans), that means living 1) with the next life in sight always, plus living 2) with our succeeding generations' lives in mind, such that they might enjoy the freedom we do so that *they* can choose to live well also. Both 1 and 2 are blessings, and we need to consider them as such.
Secular America largely has very different goals. They are welcome to them, as long as they permit those of us who subscribe to the goals given above the freedom to pursue them unencumbered.
God bless each of you, and God bless this country.
Vaccine mandates are not necessary. For those under 65 years of age and healthy, Covid is not Smallpox of a century ago, and has less of a death rate than during a severe flu season. For those over 65, especially those in convalescent homes, or those with comorbidities, and due to the coerced lack of other medical options, "proportional" moral reasoning could be used to support people to take the vaccine if they feel vulnerable and choose to do so. Thus, it is a private, medical and moral decision, protected by the 1996 federal HIPPA law, that should be made in consultation with one's doctor, and that doctor should be allowed to utilize other treatments, such as Ivermectin and HCQ (successfully shown in India recently to reduce infection rates and severity of the infection by a tremendous rate) and monoclonal antibodies to treat their patient, and also a patient should be able to weigh their decision with their confessor, depending on their circumstance.
Though Pope Francis has spoken of our communal responsibility to get the vaccine in order to stop the spread of the virus, recent studies in Israel and the U.K. published in the Lancet show that those who are vaccinated are more protected from the virus, yet they also carry a higher viral load and thus contribute much more greatly to the spread of the virus than do the unvaccinated. We should be careful of scapegoating the unvaccinated and instead look to how the virus was created, and which political forces are benefitting from the medical tyranny.
Other studies, and just our common experience with the yearly flu, is that natural immunity is more effective. Again, for those healthy and under 65 yrs old, it would be better for them individually to develop natural immunity, and discuss this with their doctor, and for society, it would be better for the virus to die out if most people have natural immunity. Yet, information about how many people have natural immunity is suppressed.
About the morality of taking the vaccine. Yes, the Pro-Life committee of the USCCB stated that it is okay to take the vaccine, that the actual vaccine does not have aborted fetus tissue in it, that it has only a "remote" connection to the original cell lines used, yet in their own statement they say that "cell lines derived from aborted fetuses were used in the testing of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine", which clearly violates what Pope John Paul II said in "The Gospel of Life" n.62 and 63, about experimentation. Do I need to spell out the obvious that JPII goes on to say, that if we do not protect the dignity of life, it will lead to a darkening of conscience and destruction of society?
As for Biden's diversionary political tactic of employer mandates, I ask our Bishops to refuse to comply with this mandate for diocesan staff in chanceries and parish offices, most of whose employees are seeking to be not coerced. If we do this nationwide, this will give support to employees in private business, or even employees in public institutions, like the LA Police Officers who are taking the mandate to court, to support them in their personal moral and medical decisions.
Mandates for schools is a more difficult decision because schools rely on tuition. The reality, though, is that many Catholic schools have been open since a year ago August, and, without vaccines, we have not seen children, even teenagers or young adults at college, have any severe symptoms, and rare hospitalizations, again, no worse than the flu. The difficulty is with the adults, teachers who insist on the vaccine, and parents and adult alumni who donate to the schools, who insist on the vaccines. Yet, the evidence of the past year, when most people were not vaccinated, is that children or adults who work in schools and youth activities were not affected any worse than the flu.
Finally, what is the morality of vaccine mandates here, not necessary for healthy people under 65, when in many poor countries vaccination rates are only 2% ? In India, which has a major pharmaceutical industry, yet only 20% vaccination rate (thus the turn to using Ivermectin, which proved extremely effective)? What of all the elderly people and people in poor health in these countries who need it more than healthy people here?
I am highly disappointed in our American Bishops for not realizing our mission here to help the church in poorer countries, whether it be about vaccine distribution, or speaking out about the human rights abuses in China, the religious persecution, the work camps that make tech products sold here, the organ harvesting, and the Big Tech/International Hedge Fund collusion there or funding the blood diamond type of mining of cobalt and lithium, used to make tech products, in the Congo causing the constant militia attacks throughout that region.
From a parishioner perspective…Our parish has many anti vaxxers including parish staff. Even after one developed a serious (not hospitalized) case, the office staff still eschewed masks let alone vaccines. Our county has 500 new cases per day and almost 100 deaths in the last six weeks. Because I now do not trust my brothers and sisters to keep me safe, I am not attending Mass in person, I do not attend study or other ministries.