New York City, N.Y., Aug 16, 2021 / 15:53 pm
A Catholic bioethicist has made the case for everyone to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, while also holding that the Church needs to play a central role against the widespread adoption of vaccine mandates.
“I beg anyone reading this who is not vaccinated to prayerfully consider getting vaccinated,” Dr. Charlie Camosy, an assistant professor of bioethics at Fordham University, wrote in an Aug. 13 opinion piece at Religion News Service.
“Pope Francis is right, in my view, to say that it is a moral obligation, due in part to the duty you have to protect the lives of others — people like Aaron, one of my best friends growing up, who recently died of this terrible disease,” he said. “His son, my godson, is now without his father. This kind of terrible pain is multiplying across the country as the Delta variant spreads.”
Camosy said that he thinks there are “understandable and coherent moral and religious arguments” to decline the COVID-19 vaccine, although he does not believe these arguments are correct.