Should Christians Take Covid Vaccine?

            The anti-vaccine movement is rather rampant. Quite a few anti-vaxxers are actively feeding seeds of doubt into the cautious and contemplative minds of certain Christians, who are uncertain about receiving vaccine shots.

            Some critical objections of the anti-vaxxers are:

1.      Vaccines have not been tested properly. Animal tests have been either inadequate or the vaccine made animals deathly ill in trials.¹

2.      Some Covid vaccines are mRNA vaccines, which are completely new type of vaccine. We are clueless if these vaccines will be effective or safe.²

3.      mRNA vaccines will alter our DNA. We would, then, become genetically modified organisms, if we received the vaccines.³

4.      Vaccine hooks us all up to an artificial intelligence interface.⁴

5.      Some vaccines (Oxford University/AstraZeneca) were developed using HEK-293 cells that were obtained from a human fetus (unborn baby) who was legally aborted.⁵ So it would be a violation of Christian ethics if we are to take these vaccines.

6.      Covid vaccines are related to the “mark of the beast.”⁶

How should we respond to these doubts?

A.     mRNA vaccines cannot alter the human DNA, according to the fact-checking website Snopes. “The mRNA is incapable of crossing the nuclear envelope of the cell where that human DNA lives. It means the vaccine cannot alter human DNA,” says Snopes.⁷

Christian biochemist, Dr. Fazale Rana, in his article entitled The COVID-19 Vaccines and God’s Providence claims God’s presence in the rapid developments of the Covid vaccines. mRNA vaccines are safe to use, he claims.⁸

B.     Should we receive a ‘morally tainted’ vaccine? John Wyatt, who was the Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics, Ethics & Perinatology at University College London, encourages Christians to receive vaccines that may be ‘morally tainted.’ A Covid patient or a relative of the Covid patient is not as morally responsible as the Christian technologist or  a Christian pharmaceutical executive making decisions about which vaccine candidates to invest in or a Christian politician with responsibilities for public spending.

If our viable option is only the ‘morally tainted’ vaccine, we should receive that vaccine than risk our lives by not receiving one. But if there is another option, then we could opt for the ‘non-morally-tainted’ option.⁹ 

This, of course, matters only to those Christians who are staunch ‘pro-lifers.’ (Pro-choice Christians don’t care about abortion.)

C.     Many Christian leaders (Fazale Rana, Franklin Graham, s/o famous evangelist Billy Graham, Robert Jeffress, Francis Collins etc.) have encouraged vaccination.¹⁰

The ‘mark of the beast’ is not a medical procedure and most certainly is not at all something that could be accidentally taken, claims an article in the Logos Academic Blog entitled COVID-19 and The Mark of the Beast.¹¹

D.     There is no concrete evidence for the vaccine to hook us all up to an artificial intelligence interface.

These assertions negate doubts about the inadequacy of the vaccine tests.

            Aside from these doubts, Snopes has refuted an apparent claim that Covid vaccines are called Luciferase, indicating that the vaccines possess satanic connotations. In reality, Luciferase refers to a group of enzymes which act upon a chemical compound called luciferins.¹²

            Believers of the Lord Jesus should not worry about death with respect to receiving Covid vaccination. Unless, God allows, we will not die. If God allows our death through Covid infection, we would be in God’s presence – a much better place than this evil world.

            Finally, if our government makes vaccine mandatory, could Christians resist receiving the vaccine? “Therefore, since the word of God gives us no specific direction on medical treatment (including on taking vaccines), believers have no Scriptural basis for choosing to disobey a government requirement to take the vaccine,” according to an article entitled Should Christians receive the COVID-19 vaccine?¹³

            In conclusion, when we have overwhelming evidence to receive vaccination, what then prevents us?

Endnotes:

¹https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-critical-thinking-pseudoscience/enough-make-scientists-cry

²https://www.hartleychiropracticsaintaugustine.com/letter-from-frank-shallenberger-md-hmd-regarding-the-covid-19-vaccine/

³https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-critical-thinking-pseudoscience/enough-make-scientists-cry

⁴Ibid.  

⁵https://johnwyatt.com/2021/01/04/article-coronavirus-vaccines-and-christian-ethics/

⁶https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/16/covid-vaccine-misinformation-evangelical-mark-beast/

⁷https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/12/17/frank-shallenberger-covid-vaccine/

⁸https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/the-cells-design/read/the-cells-design/2020/12/23/the-covid-19-vaccines-and-god-s-providence

⁹https://johnwyatt.com/2021/01/04/article-coronavirus-vaccines-and-christian-ethics/

&

https://pastorsacademy.org/blog/pro-life-christians-are-free-to-get-a-covid-vaccine/

&

https://pastorsacademy.org/blog/can-christians-get-a-covid-vaccine/

¹⁰https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-26/u-s-evangelical-leaders-preach-vaccine-to-holdout-flocks

¹¹http://academiclogos.wpengine.com/covid-19-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/

¹²https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/covid-19-vaccine-luciferase/

¹³https://www.versebyverseministry.org/bible-answers/should-christian-receive-the-covid-19-vaccine

Websites last accessed on 14^th March, 2021