
QUESTION:
Should I get the COVID-19 vaccine or not?
I’ve gotten many inquiries about the vaccine such as: Are you going to take the vaccine? Another question is raised about how the vaccine is manufactured. So I thought it would be a good idea to address this from my standpoint.
Let’s start with the most obvious thing: I believe the vaccine is safe for most people. Whether you get the vaccine or not is a personal decision…. but you don’t make that decision in isolation. What I mean by that is, when you decide you’re not going to get vaccinated, then you’re really accepting that you have to try to isolate more to keep from either getting the disease or giving it someone else. So when you make that choice, you’re not making it for yourself, you’re making it for your community as well as yourself. I caution you to think about that and to carefully consider the impact of not doing it…whether you want to or don’t want to, it’s a personal decision.
From my own personal standpoint, when people ask, “Are you going to do it?” I say, “Yes, I’m going to do it,” just as my doctors have recommended for a person like myself who is over 70 with diabetes. I’m a classic case of, if I contracted the virus, I would probably be seriously ill. So I am going to do it. I actually have an appointment Thursday (1/28) to get it.
For those of you who raise religious obstacles… I have seen some articles on the internet from certain segments of the Church claiming that cells descended from aborted fetuses are or have been used to develop the technology associated with this vaccine. There are a certain number of Cardinals and Bishops who have come out, a handful really, who have protested the vaccine on the basis that it violates our position on abortion. The Church though, has come out and said that getting the vaccine is a moral decision that is correct. Not only that, but both living Popes have been vaccinated.
So I want to put your mind at rest. Certainly all choices we make in life, no matter what they are, it doesn’t matter what the rule is. What the Catholic Church teaches is that we have the right to make our mind up whether we do something or we don’t do something. And our own position and our own sinfulness is based on our own understanding and our own use of knowledge and experience and counsel.
I would just tell you all that as far as I am concerned, it makes sense to become vaccinated. It makes sense to protect yourself, your family, your friends, your cohorts. It does make sense. But if you don’t get vaccinated, then I just urge you to be careful so that you don’t become infected yourself and/or infect other people.
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