When are the morally clear vaccine be available?
What about vaccines for school aged children?
- Thank you to the NCBC for their characteristically-excellent take on this difficult issue!
As a faithful Catholic, can I obtain a religious exemption from accepting COVID vaccination?
- Updated 9/3/21 @ 2:05pm: Please see our guidance regarding requesting a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
- Check out the NCBC’s Vaccine Exemption Resource for Individuals. They, as per usual, do a wonderful job of presenting Catholic teaching in a clear an concise way!
- Updated 8/26/21 at 2030 – The reason for the lack of clarity had now been made clear…
- Updated 8/26/21 – For healthcare professionals, it seems there is provision for exemptions (medical and religious), though the process for claiming such an exemption in New York State is not clear. More info on our blog.
- For U of R students, see here and scroll down to “COVID Vaccine Mandate & Exemptions”
- Excellent question! To some extent, it appears to depend on where you live. There is significant disagreement even among Bishops on this topic. In particular, the Archdiocese of New York has said that their diocesan priests are not to endorse such exemptions, while the Bishops of Colorado have gone so far as to provide a template for requesting just such an exemption.
What’s the deal with these new vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson?
- Bottom line: Pfizer or Moderna are preferred over AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson. Interested to know why? See our post here.
- Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine may be coming soon to your area. Be informed!
- NCBC’s take is in-line with that of the USCCB
Do COVID-19 vaccinations have “body parts” from aborted babies?
- This is a question we’ve been receiving recently. The answer is “No,” none of the vaccines contain any physical material taken directly from an aborted baby. Rather, those vaccines with some association with abortion use cells derived from aborted babies. This means specific types of cells from an aborted baby have been cultured (i.e., “grown”) in a laboratory, most since the 1970’s or 1980’s.
- From a physical standpoint, this is different than something like, for example, a bone marrow transplant. In that case, it is the actual cells from the donor that are physically injected into the recipient’s blood stream.
- In the case of COVID-19 vaccines it is, however, true that those cells being grown in culture are morally linked to that aborted baby. It is this fact that is at issue in the discussions currently taking place and is addressed in our statement linked above.
Check out the Catholic Courier’s article on COVID-19 Vaccines, featuring FLG President, Tom Carroll!