#161
Vaccine Equity and Hesitancy; Religious Freedom and COVID-19
As COVID-19 vaccination rates surge in wealthier countries like the United States, the gap between them and countries lacking vaccines widens.
Rising COVID-19 cases in refugee camps highlight the urgency of achieving greater global vaccine equity and including refugees in vaccination campaigns. In Kutupalong, Bangladesh — the largest refugee settlement in the world where more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees who fled neighboring Myanmar live — more than half of the recorded COVID-19 cases have occurred in the last month. Although 150 out of the 157 countries UNHCR is monitoring have said they will include refugees in their inoculation campaigns, the main barrier to inoculation overall remains a lack of supply. COVAX will have distributed around 190 million fewer doses than anticipated by the end of June, and many countries that have planned to vaccinate refugees have run out of vaccines before successfully doing so.
Faith leaders from around the world penned an
open letter to Boris Johnson and G7 leaders ahead of their summit in early June that called for increased global vaccine equity. The letter, which was signed by Martin Junge (general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation), the Dalai Lama, and former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, among others, calls out the lack of vaccine equity between rich and poor countries and supports the call for waivers of vaccine patents and for increased G7 funding for vaccine production. The leaders argue that a more equitable approach to vaccine distribution is both an ethical and epidemiological imperative.
Muslim leaders are playing significant roles in fighting vaccine hesitancy among their followers during a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. These leaders, who are highly trusted by Malaysians hesitant to get the vaccine because of religious reasons and pervasive conspiracy theories, have dedicated themselves to convincing their followers of the urgency of fighting the virus, dispelling conspiracy theories, and promoting trust in the vaccine.
Franklin Graham, evangelical preacher and president of Samaritan’s Purse, pleaded with evangelical Christians to get vaccinated in an
Axios interview that appeared on HBO. Graham’s interview comes after polling by
Pew Research Center showed that 45% of white evangelicals say they definitely or probably will not get vaccinated against COVID-19, a higher number than any other religious group. Graham called on other religious leaders to take up the charge for vaccines, arguing that religious leaders have a responsibility to inform their followers of the truth and urge them to get vaccinated.
Dr. Francis Collins, head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, praised the Vatican’s advocacy for the COVID-19 vaccine as “extremely helpful.” The Vatican’s efforts have included moral approval of the COVID-19 vaccine, calling on equitable vaccine distribution from wealthy countries, and opening a vaccine clinic in a papal audience hall. Unlike some religious leaders, Pope Francis was unequivocal in his support of the vaccine, suggesting that a refusal to take the vaccine is “suicidal.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has called attention to questions of religious freedom globally, with striking examples in the United States. A recent article in
U.S. Catholic notes that the pandemic has offered a “crash course” on religious freedom, with hot-topic issues like debates on limiting public worship, masking requirements, and the morality of certain vaccines. The pandemic has also brought a key question regarding religious freedom to the forefront: how do religious communities and individuals strike a balance between individual autonomy and the common good?
