New, more systematic academic research on COVID-19 and religion is surfacing. A new issue of the Christian Journal for Global Health focuses on “Vaccines, the faith community, and the common good.” It includes a literature review of the “Effects of Local Faith-Actor Engagement in the Uptake and Coverage of Immunization in Low- and Middle-Income Countries” by Sara Melillo et al. The authors focus on the roles of religious leaders in vaccination uptake and on good practice examples of religious engagement in vaccination campaigns. They also identify research gaps in this field.

Addressing some of these gaps, various researchers are concentrating on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected religion’s longer term roles in society. For example, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, in collaboration with Université de Montréal, Canada, will lead a research project to investigate the roles played by religious actors in Canada, Germany, Ireland/Northern Ireland (UK), and Poland in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, it will look at if and how relationships between states and majority/minority religious groups have changed, how the latter have framed health and scientific issues, and whether and how they have addressed ethical concerns when using technology to adapt their practices during lockdowns.

Throughout these pandemic years, religious and spiritual coping has emerged as a key theme in religion and COVID-19 resources. In an opinion piece for STATnews, T. Salewa Oseni, a surgical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, highlights that asking patients about their religious and spiritual beliefs is crucial. She points out that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of holistic approaches to care, and Oseni urges that doctors be trained in medical school to discuss the religious and spiritual dimensions of illness and recovery as part of a coordinated effort towards the patient’s physical and emotional well-being.