I’ve heard Christians say that COVID vaccines are “against their religion.” What do they mean? Does the Christian Reformed Church have a position?
Religions such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Scientology oppose some or all medical treatment as part of their core teachings. But Christian teachings and virtually all denominations, including the CRC, see medical treatment as a blessing from God and a way to obey Jesus’ command to care for the sick (Our World Belongs to God, Art. 50).
Vaccines are public medical interventions that are proven to be effective. An estimated 4 million deaths worldwide are prevented by childhood vaccination every year. In making a decision about vaccination for yourself or your child, ask your doctor to explain the risks and benefits of vaccination and the risks of the disease. Vaccines are not entirely risk-free, but for most people the vaccine poses much lower risks than the disease.
Unfortunately, views on COVID-19 vaccines became highly polarized due to the contentious political environment and misinformation on social media. Some people had honest concerns about vaccines; others opposed them as a culture-war statement. Schools and hospitals with vaccination rules often allow a religious exemption, so some parents and health care workers claimed that exemption for the COVID vaccine even when their own religion didn’t teach against it.
Despite what you might have heard, vaccines do not contain cells of aborted human fetuses. Some vaccines are produced using laboratory stem cell lines (which started decades ago from a fetus that was aborted or miscarried), but no new fetuses are aborted to produce vaccines. The mRNA COVID vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer do not use stem cell lines even in production, making them an excellent choice.
COVID-19 has become the third-leading cause of death in the United States and the fourth-leading cause in Canada. Sadly, the percentage of people who die from COVID has been much higher for those who are not vaccinated. Today’s vaccines continue to reduce the risk of serious illness and death (you might still get today’s COVID variant, but you probably won’t get as sick). Vaccines also somewhat reduce the chance you’ll infect someone else, so many Christians embrace vaccines as a way to love their neighbors—especially those with weakened immune systems. Visit this article on thebanner.org to learn more.
- Martin Luther on plagues: christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/plague-advice-from-luther
- Centers for Disease Control estimates of childhood deaths prevented each year by vaccination: cdc.gov/globalhealth/immunization/data/fast-facts.html
- Commentary essay in a scientific journal from Oct 2020 “Faith-Based Medical Neglect: for Providers and Policymakers”, focus on child vaccinations: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40653-020-00323-z
- Contemporary Testimony (Art. 50): crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/contemporary-testimony/our-world-belongs-god
- Journal article Sept 2023 on infection rates for vaccinated and unvaccinated in 2023, saw very little difference ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10482361/
- CDC report Feb 2023 on vaccinated vs unvaccinated. Showed the 2022 boosters gave slightly higher protection against infection and significantly higher protection against death, especially for older adults. cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7206a3.htm
- Journal article Aug 2023 on unvaccinated have significantly higher death rates than vaccinated: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10492612/
- KFF compilation Nov 2022 – COVID is 3rd leading cause of death in 2020, 2021, adn 2022: healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid-19-leading-cause-of-death-ranking/
- Data compilation on Deaths per 100k people in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated groups: ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status
- Johns Hopkins FAQ March 2023 – unsure if vaccinated individuals less likely to transmit disease: coronavirus.jhu.edu/vaccines/vaccines-faq
- UCSF press release on a Jan2023 journal article – vaccination does reduce the chance you’ll transmit COVID to someone else, IF you have been vaccinated/boosted recently: ucsf.edu/news/2022/12/424546/covid-19-vaccines-prior-infection-reduce-transmission-omicron
- Causes of death in Canada: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310039401
- States allowing religious/personal exemptions to vaccination rules: ncsl.org/health/states-with-religious-and-philosophical-exemptions-from-school-immunization-requirements
- Journal article Sept 2022 on Lives saved by the vaccine – estimated 15-20 million deaths globally: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9537923/
- 2021 survey about asking for religious exemptions from vaccine: prri.org/press-release/survey-only-1-in-10-americans-say-covid-19-vaccinations-conflict-with-religious-beliefs/
- Journal article 2016 on religious exemptions for vaccination, reviewing reasons given by different religions, prior to covid: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5141457/
- BioLogos common question ‘Should Christians get vaccinated?’ biologos.org/common-questions/should-christians-get-vaccinated
- The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which strongly promotes religious liberty, concludes that pro-life Christians can accept these vaccines, even while urging the development of alternative methods. Similar conclusions are drawn by the evangelical Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, and ethical guidance from the Roman Catholic Church.
- Journal article 2021 on helping patients with ethical concerns about stem cells in vaccines ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8205255/
- Whooping Cough vaccine developed in Grand Rapids: mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2015/01/how_grand_rapids_led_by_two_wo.html