I wrote this letter to a local church in my area, after they sent out an email which contained a blanket encouragement to "consider being vaccinated." I post it here in case it is useful to anyone else.
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Dear Sirs-
You do not know me, nor I you, however I have grown up in the area and have long respected your church and appreciated its ministry. I am a fellow Believer who has spent many hours reading studies & medical topics over the last 20 years, as a mother, a birth worker, a student & a teacher. As for my connection to this church, I've attended multiple conferences held in your buildings and have many friends who have attended for years. My husband & I visited for a few weeks when trying to find a church home after our marriage. A friend sent me a copy of a church-wide email which included the following plea from one of your leaders: "Please consider joining my wife and me, [other church leaders] in making the choice to be vaccinated. If you have struggles related to issues connected to the vaccine, we are available to talk and pray with you about this decision."
That sentence was quite troubling to me. A follow-up email clarified:
"The issue here is not whether one is for vax or against vax, the issue is one of leadership and trust. As an elder I never want anyone to feel pressured to make a decision like this because I or another elder is insisting on it. My intent was, as I said, for people to consider whether to get vaccinated -- not to imply there is only one acceptable choice."
That sentence is enlightening. I am thankful that you do not wish to overstep your bounds as spiritual leaders to try and pressure families into making the same medical choices your family has made. However, be advised that there is NO need to remind ANYONE in the West to "consider getting vaccinated." We are already being pressured on billboards, TV, news, social media, the walls and PA systems of grocery stores, medical facilities, and random placards downtown. Your voices being added to the din without so much as a whiff of scientific reasoning is -to put it mildly- unhelpful. It was 100% peer pressure, from persons in spiritual authority. It does not affirm the weight each person should feel for stewarding their God-given body well. It does not in any way show how or why you came to that conclusion nor does it acknowledge that it is legitimate to "consider" and come to another conclusion.
That sentence is enlightening. I am thankful that you do not wish to overstep your bounds as spiritual leaders to try and pressure families into making the same medical choices your family has made. However, be advised that there is NO need to remind ANYONE in the West to "consider getting vaccinated." We are already being pressured on billboards, TV, news, social media, the walls and PA systems of grocery stores, medical facilities, and random placards downtown. Your voices being added to the din without so much as a whiff of scientific reasoning is -to put it mildly- unhelpful. It was 100% peer pressure, from persons in spiritual authority. It does not affirm the weight each person should feel for stewarding their God-given body well. It does not in any way show how or why you came to that conclusion nor does it acknowledge that it is legitimate to "consider" and come to another conclusion.
I send this in all humility, as to my brothers in Christ, yet also boldly, for the same reason. I have taken over a week to think about, pray, and compose this email, because I do believe it is worth your time and mine. I have included linked articles where relevant and have many more if you would like clarification on any point I have raised.
If you will bear with me, please take a moment to consider why it might be UNwise and UNloving for a family or person to get these vaccines:
1. Emergency Use Approval-- this designation removes all liability for the manufacturer, since the product is experimental by nature-- the now-FDA-approved Pfizer "Comirnaty" covid 19 vax is impossible to obtain in SC at this time-- the BioTech EUA version is all we have, and it remains legally distinct-- ie there is no recourse for you if you are injured. Here you can read one concerned legislator's letter to Dr. Janet Woodruff, acting commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on this exact topic: 2021-08-26-Letter-to-FDA-re-
2. Vaccines carry serious risk. As of now, VAERS, which is a passive, voluntary reporting system to register adverse events following vaccinations, and as such is known to only catch 1-10% of actual adverse events (VAERS should be mandatory & automatic but it **is not**)-- has to date 623,343 total adverse events reported (including 13,627 deaths). A few from this past week include: a 15-year-old boy (VAERS I.D. 1498080) who previously had COVID, was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy in May 2021 and died four days after receiving his second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine on June 18, when he collapsed on the soccer field and went into ventricular tachycardia; a 13-year-old girl (VAERS I.D. 1505250) who died after suffering a heart condition after receiving her first dose of Pfizer; two 13-year-old boys (VAERS I.D. 1406840 and 1431289) who died two days after receiving a Pfizer vaccine. As of Aug 20, 3190 pregnant women reported adverse events related to COVID vaccines, including 982 reports of miscarriage or premature birth. There have been 2,640 cases of Bell’s Palsy reported, 530 reports of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, 132,694 reports of anaphylaxis, 8,528 reports of blood clotting disorders, 2,162 cases of heart inflammation. If VAERS is reporting 13K deaths, that means it is very likely we have in actuality between 130K and 1.3 million deaths in the US due to these vaccines. These vaccines DO carry serious risk. We could argue that not all of those would be due exactly to the vaccine, that many of those might have had pre-existing conditions, etc-- but that only reinforces the point that the risks are NOT the same for everyone. Each family needs to feel free to make their own risk assessments.
3. Not everyone is at equal risk from SARS-Cov-2. Healthy children are at essentially 0% risk of any complication from a covid19 infection. They also are unlikely to spread this illness to others. In the US no healthy children have died of COVID-19, and only around 360 total have died from ages 1-18. Healthy adults are also at very low risk from all variants. Those with poor outcomes in general have blood sugar issues, obesity and other predisposing factors. This website gives up-to-date stats on rates of hospitalization & infection. Right now of all Americans with known covid19, only .1% are needing critical care treatment. Only 22% are needing any medical intervention at all. That means 3 out of 4 people who get covid19 (and know they have it) are going to recover just fine with NO doctor's help. Out of 1000 people, only 1 would need critical care to recover. There are a lot of options in between "no medical assistance" and "ICU"-- and that might include getting prescription nebulized steroids, an outpatient dose of IV fluids or prescribed early-intervention medicines and nutraceuticals, or even a short hospital stay that does not involve ICU. **It is also fairly predictable which persons will be in which category.** Younger people, those well-able to regulate their own blood sugar (not insulin resistant), those with good muscle tone & low adiposity (not obese, especially without excess abdominal/visceral fat), those without pre-existing conditions (heart disease, asthma, for ex), will likely be fine. There are also MANY ways people can prep for covid, including having specific vitamins, OTC prescriptions and other immune-supporting substances on hand, working out regularly, and getting good sleep. Remember, as Christians we believe God made our bodies well, and that if we steward them well, they work well unto His service. What is my point? That it would be especially foolish for someone at low risk of suffering complications from covid to choose the most risk-y way to try and handle covid. Why are you encouraging your whole church to unilaterally sign up for the absolute least-tested, most-risky option? Why not beg everyone to review the protocols put out by the Frontline Critical Care Alliance: I-MASK+ Prophylaxis & Early Outpatient Treatment Protocol for COVID-19 [v16 – updated September 1, 2021] (covid19criticalcare.com) and have these things on hand? Why not beg the church to address underlying conditions which endanger their health (and the health of those around them by making them more susceptible to all infectious disease, not just covid)? This doctor has had excellent results in a part of the state with lower education, poorer diet, poorer everything... and yet she has maintained zero fatalities and zero intubations with early proactive treatment. We could do even better with lifestyle changes AND proactive treatment!! Another doctor from another part of the state with similarly excellent results here.
4. Why not instead address very common sins of gluttony, fear, sloth, addiction and other lack of self-control? Those put Chrsitians at greater risk of negative outcomes from covid 19 by their effect on the body. These sins are true cancers that threaten not just the body but also the soul, and render the church members less fit for ministry in every single respect. Why not encourage the obese to say "no" to white carbs and to begin a regimen of daily walks-- out of neighbor-love? Why not speak up against those who fear what can harm the body (covid?) instead of fearing Him who will judge body AND soul?
5. The covid-19 shots currently available DO NOT PREVENT TRANSMISSION of covid-19. (Fully vaccinated people who get a Covid-19 breakthrough infection can transmit the virus, CDC chief says.) They are intended to reduce serious symptoms for the recipient only. This has been the case since they were rolled out. It has NEVER made sense to "take one for grandma." In fact, cocooning has never worked-- the flu shot is one example. A Cochrane review of data on the flu shot given to health-care workers on behalf of their elderly patients shows that this idea does NOT work and never has. (However being overall more healthy, with a more healthy immune system that handles ANY assault, be it viral, bacterial, or fungal-- that DOES protect those around you.) Lately data has emerged showing that the vaccinated tend to carry the same or MORE level of communicable viral particles even when they are not symptomatic, unlike the unvaxed who will get noticeably sick if carrying high viral loads, and will thus know to STAY AWAY from the vulnerable. (If Delta is your main concern, why are you urging people to "consider" shots which do not protect against Delta? That's like pushing last year's flu shot.)
6. Those who have recovered from covid19 do not need a shot. They already have long-lasting immunity- yes, even against Delta. In fact, they are more protected against all strains than the vaxxed are, (also here: Previous Covid Prevents Delta Infection Better Than Pfizer Shot) and they are also more at risk of negative effects from a shot. Don't forget that a great number of people are already immune and would receive no personal benefit from a shot-- they would actually incur MORE risk- and they already are not posing any "potential danger" to anyone else.
7. Is it even Biblical to treat other humans as "potential risks" to others just by being the way God made them (ie unvaccinated)? Yes, we all carry "germs" all the time and always have... the "one another" commands ALL still apply and always have. Those who are unvaccinated are not inherently dirty, contagious nor extra germy. They are not sick; abstaining from an experimental drug program is not akin to active leprosy. Why are we acting like accepting these drugs make us somehow less germy? Why are we even thinking like the main factor in our health is the health of our neighbor? Is it not more Biblical to take personal responsibility and trust the Lord for protection, not the vax status of others?
8. Many Christians object to these vaccines due to their link to abortions and the abortion industry. Is there anything less neighbor-loving than an industry which profits off the premeditated murder of our most defenseless and innocent neighbors? I know Christians draw different lines around the links between aborted fetal tissue and pharmaceuticals-- but it is worth considering, and noting that other Christians may be conscience-bound to abstain from a shot they believe to be derived from murder. Another chart.
For all these reasons, and many more which I have not mentioned, please consider revising your "suggestions" to instead encourage people to make prayerful, fearless decisions that make sense **FOR THEIR OWN FAMILY** as well as considering their overall health and taking action to steward that well out of neighbor-love, showcasing the fruits of the Spirit (such as faithfulness and self-control). Let us not be fearful.
In Christ,
Christina
