Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., is urging pastors and other religious leaders to use their influence to dispel covid-19 misinformation and to encourage congregants to get vaccinated.
Collins, an evangelical, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that resistance to the shots is substantial in some quarters.
Ministers, he said, have been given an opportunity to save lives, but acknowledges speaking out can be difficult for some.
"I know they're in a tough spot, because in many churches, particularly white evangelical churches, this is a contentious area because it's gotten all tangled up with politics, which never should have happened, and it's made things so much worse," he said.
"A pastor who's courageous enough to say to his congregation, 'You know, the evidence really does suggest that we should all be getting vaccinated', is going to get some pushback," he said during an interview earlier this month. "But I would just ask those folks to consider the consequences of staying silent. How will you feel about that, if somebody in the congregation ends up getting ill or maybe even dying, unnecessarily, because this is now a pandemic of the unvaccinated?"
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Collins portrayed vaccination as a moral issue and urged pastors to take a stand.
"This is a moment for that kind of courage, even if it's going to be challenging," he said. "[It's] easy for me to say because I'm not standing in that pulpit. But I do think they have so much credibility, and maybe this is a good moment to spend it."
CHURCHES HAVE ASSISTED
In Arkansas, dozens of churches have assisted with vaccination efforts, including Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, African Methodist Episcopal Churches and others, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.
Across the nation, covid-19 has claimed more than 700,000 lives as of Thursday.
Given the threat posed by the coronavirus, it's urgent that people get the facts, health officials say.
"There's an awful lot of false information circulating on social media," Collins said. "Go to a website like getvaccineanswers.org -- which is based on real science, real evidence -- and see what the answers are to the questions people are asking about safety and effectiveness, and I think you'll be very convinced that this is something that you want for yourself," he said.
"This is not a close call," he said.
People who get vaccinated not only protect themselves, but also those around them, he said.
"It's also not just about you. It's also about your community. If we can get more people vaccinated, then those who are particularly vulnerable, kids under 12, people with cancer or organ transplants for whom the vaccine doesn't work, you're protecting them, too," he said.
'LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR'
Getting vaccinated, he said, is "part of being generous as a person who wants to love your neighbor."
Among Christians, some have declined vaccinations, arguing that they are going to rely on God for protection.
"I've certainly heard that [rationale]," Collins said.
"I'm a person of faith and I understand the importance of trusting God, and I try to do that in my own life every day," he said. "But when I pray to God for some kind of answer, I don't expect those answers to necessarily come all the time supernaturally or miraculously. Sometimes they come through other people. Sometimes those other people are scientists."
When the pandemic erupted, many people turned to prayer.
Now there's a vaccine that greatly reduces the risk of illness or death.
Gratitude, Collins suggested, is a proper response.
"Shouldn't we say 'Thank you', be in praise, and then take the gift that we've been given, unwrap it and roll up your sleeve. Isn't that a perfectly acceptable and appropriate way for a believer to be grateful to God?" he said.
Collins said he is unaware of any major faith groups that oppose vaccinations as a matter of doctrine.
'LESS REASON FOR CONCERN'
"The Catholic Church has certainly looked at this because one of the vaccines, the J&J [Johnson & Johnson] vaccine, is manufactured in a cell line that was derived from a pregnancy termination 45 years ago and has been kept continuously in the laboratory, but they concluded that that was not a reason for pro-life individuals to reject that vaccine. And the other vaccines, the Pfizer and the Moderna, are not grown in such a cell line and so there's even less there of a reason for concern," Collins said.
Nonetheless, some houses of worship are helping people sidestep vaccinations on religious grounds, he noted.
"I am concerned when I hear some churches are basically handing out exemption forms to everybody who comes to the door: 'In case you don't want to take the vaccine, here's your religious exemption form,'" Collins said.
"That's not right," he said.
In Arkansas, some religious leaders are speaking out against efforts to undermine vaccination efforts.
"If you receive requests to sign off on 'religious exemptions' for your parishioners, you are to politely decline to do so," Bishop Anthony Taylor wrote in an Aug. 23 letter to priests in the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock.
'MORALLY PERMISSIBLE'
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with officials in Rome, have reached the "consistent conclusion" that it is "morally permissible" to receive a covid-19 vaccine, Taylor wrote.
Pope Francis "has consistently taught that getting vaccinated is an act of charity for the common good" and that getting vaccinated "helps care especially for the most vulnerable and thus is an act of love," Taylor wrote.
Some Arkansas Protestants, including United Methodist Bishop Gary Mueller, have taken a similar view.
"The United Methodist Church does not endorse or offer waivers for religious exemptions from vaccines. In fact, we strongly support the use of vaccines, except in those instances when individuals cannot be inoculated for medical reasons," Mueller said in a written statement.
According to the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, "Providing the care needed to maintain health, prevent disease, and restore health after injury or illness is a responsibility each person owes others ...," Mueller noted.
Southern Baptists in Arkansas and elsewhere haven't taken an official position on covid-19 vaccination efforts.
'ON A CHURCH LEVEL'
"We aren't in any sort of position of authority over any particular ministry or church, so that would entirely be based on a local church level. Our denominational structure is set up to keep the churches autonomous and allow them to act independently," said Arkansas Baptist State Convention spokesman Nick Burt.
Collins asked whether God would really want you "to turn down something that might actually save your life and that of others because of some crazy mix of religion and politics that is not really based upon truth."
"Let's go back to the Bible, John chapter eight, verse 32: The truth will set you free," he said.
"What's the truth here? It is not about turning you magnetic or having chips in that syringe. It is about something that is really quite remarkably safe and effective as based upon, now, the experience of more than 175 million people," he said.
Asked whether science of medicine can be a ministry, Collins said, "I think there's all kinds of ministries and there's all kinds of fields of opportunity for sharing God's grace and God's goodness. Certainly a scientist who gets the opportunity to learn things about nature that nobody knew before but God knew all along, that could be an occasion that's profoundly religious. Science, in that sense, is kind of a form of worship, of just being amazed at the Creation as you uncover some new intricate aspect of it.
"And, certainly, physicians, who have the chance to interact intimately with people who are struggling not only with a medical illness, but big questions about the meaning of life and what happens after death, they are certainly in a ministerial role quite regularly," he said.
"It's interesting, of course, when we look at the life of Jesus, how much of that time was spent in healing actions. And I think we were supposed to notice that. I think physicians, noticing that, have to feel like they're in a tradition of the greatest healer, the greatest minister, the greatest physician of all time: Jesus Christ."
