{"id":5992,"date":"2018-11-24T11:28:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-24T09:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.theotokos.co.za\/?p=5992"},"modified":"2020-05-25T07:51:52","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T05:51:52","slug":"should-catholics-be-pro-or-anti-vaccination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.theotokos.co.za\/?p=5992","title":{"rendered":"Should Catholics be pro or anti vaccination?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was recently asked on a Facebook forum:<\/p>\n

“Is it morally possible for a Catholic to be anti-vaccine? Or does our faith teach us to accept such science?”<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Pope<\/a>

Pope Francis gives a vaccine to a boy held by Mexico’s first lady Angelica Rivera during a visit to the Federico Gomez Children’s Hospital (CNS)<\/p><\/div>\n

So this is my answer, as a scientist, as a doctor, as a medical virologist, as a Catholic.<\/p>\n

My position is that the anti-vaccine<\/strong><\/span> (aka anti-vax) position is indeed<\/span> immoral<\/span><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Vaccines and the huge benefits they have brought are a matter of science and history and fact, and there is plenty of evidence for those who are willing to look at it. I’ll briefly comment on some aspects of vaccine success and discuss some legitimate instances where vaccines are inappropriate, and I’ll give useful links below; my purpose here is to make a statement<\/span> and not to provide several years<\/span> worth of studying science on one page. I’ll also touch on the valid problem of vaccines tainted with a history of abortion.<\/p>\n

I’ll start with a really harsh heading. Harsh, but true.<\/p>\n

Anti-vax is a medical equivalent of anti-life flat earthism<\/h1>\n

The anti-vaccination belief is the modern day medical equivalent of flat earthism<\/a> or geocentrism<\/a> (which has its own growing Catholic support<\/a>) or the idea that the moon landings were faked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unlike geocentrism, however, which is a belief that doesn’t cause death and disability and suffering, the anti-vax position is the moral equivalent of:<\/p>\n