I wrote a letter to the editor about an article that noted that Catholics have a duty to vaccinate for the common good. This is important as some Catholics falsely claim Catholics should skip vaccines or that vaccine mandates are automatically immoral. Both views of vaccines are directly contrary to Catholic social doctrine.
In 2023, Steven M. A. Bow wrote “When Does Catholic Social Teaching Imply a Duty to be Vaccinated for the Common Good?” for The New Bioethics. In this piece, he gives 12 criteria for this duty.
- The pathogen is communicable between humans
- The agent is pathogenic
- Individual vaccination will contribute to herd protection
- The vaccine was developed and distributed in an ethical manner
- Vaccination carries no risk of harm
- The vaccine effectively enhances the body’s immune response to the pathogen
- The vaccinee is at risk of exposure
- The vaccinee is susceptible to infection
- The individual, if infected, would be at risk of disease
- The costs borne by the vaccinee are low
- The vaccine is not scarce
- There is no alternative option
These are a reasonable set of criteria, except for number 5 (emphasized), which is too narrow to be realistic.
Thus, I wrote a letter to the editor (institutional access / ResearchGate) on the fifth criterion above. Here are the key excerpts:
In the paragraphs discussing this criterion, Bow cites sources that indicate a low risk of harm, not no risk, including specific medical situations where the risk would be higher and the vaccine contraindicated. No vaccine has zero risk of harm to anyone, but many vaccines have sufficiently small risks that one has a duty even with that small risk. A small risk alone does not negate an otherwise existing duty. There is a small risk anyone driving to work will die in a car crash but in ordinary circumstances this does not negate the duty to go to work. Likewise, any food might make one sick, but a duty not to starve oneself means some food should be eaten. At the very least, this criterion should be changed to ‘Vaccination carries minimal risk of harm.’
However, when we are looking at risk from vaccination, it is not just an absolutely low risk but the risk in proportion to the risk of the disease if unvaccinated. For example, if two respiratory conditions had similar transmission rates and similar vaccine effectiveness but one was five times as deadly, taking on several times as much risk of adverse reactions for the vaccine against the deadlier disease seems reasonable.. .Thus, an even less strict criteria might be proposed here: ‘Vaccination carries a proportionally small risk of harm.’
Hopefully, this helps with the discussion on the moral obligation of Catholics to receive recommended vaccines.
(Note: I welcome comments, but we must assume the overwhelming scientific consensus on vaccines. Edit: to further clarify, this is due to the evidence being overwhelming if you read peer-reviewed and serious scientific data. I read a bunch but don’t have the time to go through it all again for specific claims, plus my expertise is more moral theology than medicine. If you want to debate the medical aspects of vaccines, go read scientists who do this research or who are experts in the field, not antivaxxers.)
.jpg){kind=link}
The problem with vaccines is that they rely on humans. For example, in 2009, Pandemrix released a Flu vaccine that caused Narcolepsy in a much larger than usual group of people. It took 6 years to prove the government and the vax manufacturer had taken shortcuts, 8 years to hypothesize what went wrong, and a full 10 years to prove that the vaccine caused the immune system to attack the part of the brain that influences sleep. With this one example, it proves that vaccines are not “fully” tested, and any issues will take up to a decade just to find out why they failed.
The Covid vax is another example where the vax manufacturers and governments colluded to skip animal trials, publish false information on efficacy, and literally attack the unvaccinated for killing people that had been vaccinated (think about that idea for a moment – how can an unvaccinated person hurt a vaccinated person unless the vaccine proves to enhance the virility of the disease). In addition, those negatively affected by the vax were under-represented and literally cancelled on the media and social media stage. We are only now beginning to understand the repercussions of DNA modifying vaccines. I would humbly suggest that DNA modification should be anathema to the church.
When governments and vaccine manufacturers collude to artificially inflate your number 3 and skip your number 4, we the people have no obligation to comply.
By that logic, I should never buy groceries as there have been food poisonings of groceries. I should also never drive on the road as automobile accidents are a major cause of death in this country.
I give these two examples as the logic of your argument: you should not do X as there might be some issue if humans in charge of safety don’t do their job makes living in society almost impossible.
Fr. Matthew P. Schneider,
You are aware that the Covid vaccine did not have informed consent, but violated the Nuremberg code and it has the fetal cell aborted fetal cell line in it. What happened to Faith ? Will pray for all of our conversion. Pope Francis failed us, and so did the American clergy. Shame on all of you. You were supposed to feed your children, but you were cowards. you’re in my prayers.
Myocarditis turbo cancer, blood clots sudden death syndrome have you heard of these Fr. Matthew P. Schneider ? I think we need to have smarter priest so that they pay attention and use some critical thinking and have faith. Get a poisonous vaccine that they didn’t report what was in it. They’ve got 75 years immunity. It’s got spike proteins and you’re promoting this. Shame on you !
go to church pray and stick your preaching and feed your children, Father or go hide. God have mercy on all of us. 🙏😇
Stephen Anthony O’Treasaigh
Let’s count the falsehoods:
1. “the Covid vaccine did not have informed consent” it did. People were informed about it and most made the prudent choice to get vaccinated.
2. “the Covid vaccine… violated the Nuremberg code” In no reasonable way is this true.
3 & 4. “it has the fetal cell aborted fetal cell line in it.” This is false. No fetal cells were used anywhere. Some fetal cell lines were used in testing but are not even in contact with the vaccine you get.
5. “What happened to Faith?” The faith has always be pro-science, pro-medicine, and pro-vaccine. Unless you are describing someone against vaccines or a non-Catholic, I’m not sure what you refer to.
6-7. “Myocarditis turbo cancer, blood clots sudden death syndrome have you heard of these Fr. Matthew P. Schneider?” I’ve heard them all claimed but the turbo cancer and sudden death syndrome are made up by antivaxxers while the other two are rare negative side effects.
8 & 9. “Get a poisonous vaccine that they didn’t report what was in it.” You can find the ingredients online with a simple google search or checking official sources. And none of these are poison at the dosage given.
10. “They’ve got 75 years immunity” No serious person thought you could get 75 years of immunity to an RNA virus by a single vaccine.