Should a Catholic Take the Covid Vaccine Out of Love for Neighbor?

I see a strange trend going around social media as of late — one in which a relatively young person posts a picture of their covid vaccine completion certificate — with strange virtue-signaling tagline attached — something along the lines of, “I’m doing this for love of my neighbor”. (Author’s note: At time of writing, the vaccine is limited in availability and being offered to medical professionals and the vulnerable.)

It is concerning to me when I see posts like these trending on social media because often they seem to be implying some sort of higher moral ground to a decision which basically comes down to a medical choice that should be approached from a rational perspective — not an emotion-driven one — even more importantly, a medical choice that everybody ought to enter into freely, without coercion from others.

Because seriously, if it was all about love of neighbor and you are in your 30’s and 40’s and not in the high risk category, one might wonder if love for neighbor would suggest giving your dose to the actual vulnerable in your community — but hey, who am I to judge?

To be clear, I am not attacking the choice to be vaccinated. Not at all.

What concerns me is the virtue-signaling responses I’ve seen in some people when posting and commenting, and it is an alarming trend I have seen growing in social media over the past year in many different aspects of life that ought to be left up to individuals to freely discern — especially when there are many segments of society that believe freedom of conscience ought to be abolished.

To be clear, I’m happy if this vaccination will give somebody more freedom to re-engage in society after a year of isolation.

The mental health toll of isolation and fear-mongering amongst old and young alike has been devastating, and the sooner people can get back to normal socialization, the better!

The problem, though, is that some Catholics are throwing the same virtue-signaling sentiment into their vaccination commentary — which, in my opinion, means they are falling down the dangerous slope of assigning some sort of higher moral ground to a medical choice that should be left up to individual conscience and discernment with one’s own medical providers.

If you get the vaccine, great, but if you are going to publicly post about it, might I suggest a more honest approach to your motives, like “Hey, I’ve discerned this is best choice for myself, the Church allows for Catholics to take this vaccine, and I think this is the best way for me and my family to move forward after Covid.”

You have nothing to prove here. The Church makes it clear that there is not one right answer to the question, and it is way more nuanced than one might think.

Let’s have a respectful debate for why we see one choice as more in line with love of neighbor than the other — but at the end of the day, it is up to the individual to discern. We should all try to examine both the pros and cons of both sides of this argument and resist engaging in the social media manipulation that wants to put all of us in opposite camps that demonize each other.

Don’t be a pawn in the social media games that incentivize outrage, manipulation and toxicity because it’s good for their advertisers — don’t forget it’s those advertisers who have basically made those social media moguls, billionaires, people!

Social media should not be the place we look to for answers to this or any other important questions in life.

What is called for here is clear thinking and discernment — not emotionally-driven arguments.

The Church is not calling for everybody to get this vaccine. They are calling for honest discernment and action based on that.

“The decision to receive the Covid-19 vaccine remains one of individual conscience in consultation with one’s health care provider. We also maintain that in no way does this diminish the wrondoing by those who decided to use cell lines from abortion to make vaccines”.

Diocese of New Orleans and St. Louis

In other words, to get the Covid vaccine is a morally neutral act for the person who takes it — one which is neither demanded of Catholics nor prohibited.

Catholics can freely choose to take the vaccine or not take the vaccine — but they should choose the least problematic vaccine, when possible. That means in the U.S. that Pfizer and Moderna are better choices than Johnson and Johnson — which not only used those aborted cell lines but actually experimented on aborted cell lines in the testing process.

It is important to understand that the individual who chooses to get the vaccine does not bear the moral burden of taking a vaccine that is problematic because of it’s origins — which means it’s a morally allowable choice, especially considering the possible risks to health to those with co-morbidities and other concerns.

On the other hand, the vaccine companies do bear a greater degree of culpability in their choice to use aborted cell lines vs. non aborted cell lines. Those aborted babies didn’t give informed consent and therefore we should pressure our vaccine companies to find alternatives in the future production of vaccines — both Covid and non-covid related.

All morals aside, there is also valid concern that first year run vaccines are more likely to have negative side-effects that will require tweaking so as to avoid further injury to those who take the vaccine.

There are no long-term studies on the side effects of any of these covid vaccines, so healthy individuals may discern that the possible harm caused by getting the COVID vaccine is equal to or greater than the harm and side-effects of actually getting COVID. That is a totally legit choice.

Don’t forget that love of neighbor never requires throwing oneself under the bus, so to speak, of a newly developed vaccine that has no long term studies attached to it — at the end of the day, this is a medical choice you are making.

One should weigh the risks and benefits of getting a vaccine that has no long-term studies vs. the risks and benefits of getting the actual virus itself. One should take their own age and health, whether they have regular and prolonged contact with vulnerable people, and even one’s mental health as factors into consideration.

Having said that, nobody should be forced or pressured into taking a newly developed vaccine with no long-term studies attached to it.

Vaccine trials have always required consent to participate in and often years of testing to ensure the side effects are limited — because of the urgency of the pandemic, those trials have been greatly shortened — and healthy individuals ought to consider that in their discernment.

As you can see, all these matters make it far more complicated than “do you love your neighbor or don’t you?” so let’s not fall into that trap!

Don’t take my word for it, here are the words of Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. in a recent interview with Raymond Arroyo. (By the way, go over to that link above and you will find loads of valuable information on this and other bioethic questions!)

“The Church’s teaching is that if the (COVID) vaccine is available, you should discern whether your circumstances warrant the taking of it. That is the key point. So you have to make a judgement about benefits vs. burdens, risk assessment... and so not a simple, Everybody should take it. No. If you are in a higher risk category, look very closely at this. If you are not, you have more time to discern ‘should I wait?…give time for a another iteration of vaccines, etc… It is not a universal call by the Church (to take the vaccine.)

Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, P.h.D.

In other words, it is up to you to discern what is best for you and your particular set of circumstances.

Make your choice and let others make theirs, and if that happens to result in your eventually contracting Covid, the good news is that it may help you to develop an immunity that is longer lasting than the immunity a vaccine could offer.

The natural response and resulting immunity to a virus often delivers the best and most long-lived immunity out there, and therefore, you can help to build up a longer-term herd immunity, which will also help to protect the vulnerable and your neighbor.

One could reasonably argue that is an equally loving choice.

At the end of the day, we should do our research, ask God to guide us and resist assigning a moral value to a choice that should be left up to individual conscience.

P.S. As I write this, I am on the tail end of recovering from Covid with my family in self-isolation. Apparently, the choice has been made for us. We unintentionally “took one for the team” and I am happy to add to the ever-increasing herd immunity that will hopefully add to the protection of the vulnerable amongst us!

May God bless us, everyone!

P.P.S. Watch the interview below and see what Fr. Tad says on all of this process of discernment as a Catholic. Also, check out his website. Incredibly helpful!