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COVID-19: Exploring Faith Dimensions
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT
#170
Opportunities for Faith Engagement
 
Faith advocacy for patent waivers for COVID-19 vaccines continues. To reduce the impact of the pandemic, it is vital to get COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest countries as quickly as possible. Temporarily waiving COVID-19 vaccine patents is an important step to accomplishing that goal. In the first week of August, various religious leaders met with and advocated for that action to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who expressed support. This meeting was the first of its kind, and it aimed to allow countries in several lower-income countries to produce and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, conducting tests and treatments on their own, which could quickly increase their inoculation and treatment capacity.
 
Pope Francis issued an appeal on August 18 urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying the vaccines could bring an end to the pandemic. "Thanks to God's grace and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19," the pope said in a video with the Ad Council and the COVID Collaborative. “They grant us the hope of ending the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we work together.” 
 
A recent Berkley Forum blog series explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has strained relationships between church and state in Russia. The global health crisis has raised broader questions on the concept of symphonia, or church-state relations, in Eastern Orthodox theology. On the issue of vaccination, some high-level clerics are supportive of Kremlin vaccination efforts, but the Russian Orthodox Church has also emphasized freedom of choice to vaccinate. 
 
In the United States, two different reports show the differing views of cultural and spiritual reasoning around COVID-19 risks. In the Navajo Nation there has been a strong uptake of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. What is responsible for this? In this news report authors from the Bloomberg School’s Center for American Indian Health speak about how cultural values and American Indian beliefs are central to the success of the vaccination campaign. Leonela Nelson, a research program supervisor with the center, says, “It’s embedded in our values that we don’t just think about ourselves. We think about others and the generations that are going to come after us, so getting the vaccine is just one small thing that we’re able to do to ensure that life goes on.” Research conducted on the Amish population shows that the death rate for 2020 soared above the baseline average from 2015 to 2019, with the largest spike — 125% — occurring in November. West Virginia University sociologists suggest that face-to-face interaction, coupled with a distrust in preventative medicine, led to “excess deaths” among this population. Researchers analyzed obituary information published in an Amish/Mennonite newspaper to obtain this statistic. In a press release, lead researcher Rachel Stein, said, “There's been a lot of minimizing of the severity of COVID…. There's a perception that COVID is like the flu. If people get sick, then people get sick and will eventually get over it.” But she also added that “there are certainly groups of Amish who perceive COVID as a real problem and they’ve had loved ones negatively affected by it.”
 
Finally, disruptions to the education of the girl child have been one of the effects of the pandemic in Bangladesh. By extension, this has led to an increase in child marriage and different forms of violence. A new policy brief from the Berkley Center, World Faiths Development Dialogue, and BRAC University's Centre for Peace and Justice, addresses this problem and highlights specific ways in which faith communities, governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have engaged to prevent girls from being left behind in and beyond Bangladesh. The brief, launched at an event on August 11, also explores paths toward a more equitable education system after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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If you have news articles, guides, or other relevant resources you wish to share with us for review please email covid19.faithresponse@gmail.com. We are particularly interested in learning more about groups facing acute vulnerabilities (refugees, elderly, those impacted by the digital divide, in fragile states, etc.). Please send us any information you see.
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