Vaccinations, a Moral Imperative

[[Dear Sister O'Neal, everyone around here is going crazy and jumping on those who have not been vaccinated against COVID or who refuse to wear masks. I wondered how you approach the whole matter of vaccinations and mask-wearing since you have faith in God but also because you live alone and don't see a lot of people. I believe that God will take care of me so I shouldn't need vaccinations and if it is God's will that I contract COVID, well, then a vaccination wouldn't help anyway and might go against God. This has made it hard to be with my family but I think it is what faith means. Maybe God is calling me to be a hermit through all of this and increasing my solitude. I read online about a hermit who is also a priest. He says COVID is a hoax and rejects vaccination. He trusts in God and has real faith!! He is not driven by fear and I don't want to be either. Jesus was the one who said, "be not afraid!!  Is this how you think about getting vaccinated against COVID?]]

Thanks for your questions. I think perhaps my answer will surprise you. One of the things I write about here most frequently is the way eremitical life is antithetical to individualism. The paradox of solitary eremitical life is that precisely as those living alone with, from, and for God, we reveal the communal nature of the human being. We are concerned with the things of God --- not least God's creation -- including, of course, our fellow human beings. We hermits are the most vivid example of this paradoxical reality. The second thing I write a lot about here is the nature of genuine freedom. I have defined it as I was taught and as Christianity understands it: namely, as the power to be the persons we are called to be. These two realities intersect in an incredibly vivid way in the vocation of the solitary hermit. Because of that, because hermit vocations are defined in terms of freedom and a unique and solitary expression of community, I am particularly "allergic" to a lot of what is happening in politics and public health under the guise of "freedom" (including "religious freedom") and the putative infringement of "personal or individual) rights".

When I watch the news or listen to folks who refuse to wear masks or get vaccinated in the name of personal freedom, it is completely dismaying to me. After all, we are responsible for ourselves, of course, but at the same time we are responsible for the wellbeing of others we call "brothers" and "sisters" or "friends" and "neighbors". The answer to the question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" is yes! Our behavior should reflect that!! Take the issue of wearing masks if one is unvaccinated: we are called by God to do what we can to protect ourselves and others from COVID-19. 

Wearing a mask helps prevent the spread of infection and thus too the various problems that come when infection is able to spread relatively unchecked, especially new and more virulent variants, the overrunning of our healthcare system --- seen particularly in the exhaustion of critical care workers who give themselves for the rest of us --- and the infection of those among us who cannot yet avail themselves of vaccines -- children and those who, for medical reasons, truly cannot take the vaccine. Vaccine also protects but even more effectively and completely. I therefore have to ask, what is difficult in the concept of accepting vaccination and the relatively minor risk attending that so that not only we may be safer from COVID, but so that the virus itself may be deprived of room and occasion to spread and flourish as herd immunity is gradually achieved?

Early on in the lockdown beginning 17 months ago March, I was awaiting the delivery of a package and walked outside and down my street to see if I could spot the UPS truck and to get a little respite in the open air. A couple I did not know crossed  onto the sidewalk behind me and the young man said, "I should rip that mask off your face!" I was stunned and bewildered --- and also a bit threatened. How in the world did my wearing a mask threaten this man? How could he feel my own act of self-protection impinged on him at all? This was my first experience of a senseless politicization of the pandemic and an example of what would soon become a dominating response to something that was mistakenly and willfully seen as a threat to another's freedom. 

Within days I was hearing (via the news) from folks who believed that those of us who were "driven by fear" should simply stay inside and isolate ourselves while we allowed others to continue on unmasked, not concerned with social distancing, and thus, without concern or recognition of the virulence of COVID-19 at all. I found that stunning, a kind of contempt for anyone admitting weakness in the face of a virulent and potentially lethal virus, even as "the strong" carried on without concern for the same life-threatening virus or anyone but themselves. I never thought this attitude could be widely represented amongst the general population; even less did I think it would become prevalent even among many who considered themselves to be Christians and strongly rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Was I fearful? Yes, of course; I have chronic illnesses which would make contracting the virus deadly for me, so of course fear was a reality. I neither wanted to contract the virus nor did I want to pass it on to others. So, while fear was a reality, it was love that drove me and so many others I know. Sisters, for instance, sacrificed their ability to visit others in their own congregations or even leave their own rooms in order to protect everyone from infection; it was difficult but everyone trusted this was temporary and endured it so they could minister again. 

Meanwhile, ways of adapting ministry were found. Parishes moved all classes and liturgies to ZOOM meetings for the same reasons. Some videotaped or streamed Mass so that others could experience a connection with the larger church in that way. Retreats, lectio divina, scripture classes, social gatherings of folks now separated, lonely, and fearful were held in this new context and folks realized not only that they could minister to one another in this unexpected way but that they could reach those now accessible by computer. Some even developed dimensions of theology that had ordinarily been underemphasized --- the notion of families or households being instances of domestic church, for instance. Was there fear? Yes. And grief as we lost people to the virus. But were we driven by fear in the choices we made for this new way of relating?  Did we lack faith? No. We were impelled by love. We protected ourselves and we protected our ability to be there for others in whatever ways we could. For Christians, acting in such ways is simply a moral imperative.

I don't know every hermit out there, but of the hermits I do know and whose profound faith I can attest, every one of us has been vaccinated and wears masks when these are required or prudent. Each of us spends the majority of our time in our hermitages in the silence of solitude. Each of us trusts God with our lives and live our lives for God and for all that is precious to God. But you see, in our solitude we are other-centered --- which is what c 603 and, more fundamentally, the Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to be. And, it is precisely the fact that we live our lives for others and understand eremitical solitude in terms of relatedness and solidarity rather than isolation that makes us capable of living as Catholic Hermits. It also makes us good models of how to handle this pandemic. We are each of us, hermit or not, free to the extent we allow ourselves to be empowered by the Love-in-Act we know as God. As Paul tells us faith is great but greater still is love!! We are individuals (i.e., not just isolated beings, but truly ourselves!) to the extent we are truly free and live our lives for the sake of others. Freedom is not license. Individuality is not the same as being an individualist, while much that goes by the name of faith today is simply a description of self-assertion and a refusal of the Divine call to be there for others.

Today we are seeing the DELTA variation dominating new cases of COVID-19 in this country (and, in fact, in the world). Moreover, we are seeing a new epidemic amongst the unvaccinated; 99.5 % of new cases in the US occur among those who are unvaccinated. With each new variant the disease becomes more highly infectious and we don't yet have vaccines approved for children. At some point the vaccines we do have may become ineffective as variants proliferate. Meanwhile, the side effects from the vaccines have been truly minimal and anaphylaxis, which is also rare, can be effectively handled in the way it always is. Unless one has verified, and thus, legitimate medical reasons for avoiding the vaccines, there is no other word for remaining unvaccinated at this point than irresponsible!  While we must always maintain the sanctity of our certain conscience decisions, one must seriously question whether a conscience judgment which selfishly contradicts the Law of Love in the name of some badly defined notion of personal "freedom", for instance, is truly well-formed and informed. From my perspective, getting vaccinated is a moral imperative --- nothing less.