Some two dozen Catholic colleges and universities have joined the growing list of institutions requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for students returning to campus this fall, decisions that are not without controversy.
Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI have both received first doses of a coronavirus vaccine as part of the Vatican's inoculation campaign, the city-state announced Jan. 14.
Commentary: As I sit socially distant with other health care workers, there is a reverence as we wait to receive the vaccine for COVID-19. This is not only about protecting me; it is about protecting others.
A new Vatican document highlights the "critical role of vaccines to defeat the pandemic, not just for individual personal health but to protect the health of all."
Admittedly not a big fan of needles, Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski winced as he became possibly the first U.S. bishop to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
The "gravity" of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and "the lack of availability of alternative vaccines," are "sufficiently serious" reasons to accept the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the bishops said.
Despite confusion over the morality of using these companies' vaccines, it is not "immoral to be vaccinated with them," the chairmen of the U.S. bishops' doctrine and pro-life committees said Nov. 23.
Measles, chicken pox and other diseases are making a comeback as more parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children out of the fear of side effects, especially with regard to the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine.
