CCBI Resources for Covid-19 – March 8, 2021

Dear Friends of CCBI,

On March 5, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was approved for use in Canada, joining already approved AstraZeneca as vaccines ordered by Canada. We now have PfizerBioNTec, Moderna and these two others. As we have explained over the months, Pfizer and Moderna count as ethical vaccines, since they are mRNA vaccines, containing no material from cell lines derived from aborted fetuses. The other two count as unethical, since derived material is used in their development, production and testing. Please see the link to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, below, which has charts listing the various vaccines and their content. We have referred to the Institute’s work many times and recommend their work as extremely helpful, necessary for getting to the heart of the ethical questions continuing to be posed. NOW, please see the following NB!

NOTA BENE: this situation means that if Pfizer and Moderna are available, we should request those. IF they are not available and may not be for a long time, or perhaps never, in any particular province or area, then Church teaching says we may use the others, even if known to be morally compromised. The reason is, as we have explained before, that the degree of ‘cooperation in evil,’ to use the technical term, is so remote as to make any hesitation disproportionate to the possibility of contracting COVID19, a serious and often lethal illness, with a high transmissibility. Our personal conscience decisions must take into account our responsibility for protecting other people’s lives as well as reflecting our own moral stance. In fact, since this is a moral issue, the Church asks us to register our objections to government and public health officials and to request ethical vaccines. (Please read the letter sent to our federal and provincial governments and to ministers of health in May, 202O by CCBI in conjunction with the CCCB, the National Council of the CWL, the National Association of Catholic Nurses -Canada, COLF, Catholic physicians’ groups, CCRL, St Thomas More Lawyers’ Guild of Toronto, Archbishop Sotirios Chairman, Canadian Conference of Orthodox Bishops and many others. It may be used as a template for any letters that you decide to send).

An interesting development is that AstraZeneca is not recommended in Canada for people over 60. Apparently, it is not effective enough beyond this. An article from The Globe, relates: “Dr. Watts at the University of Toronto said concentrating the mRNA vaccines on older and immunocompromised people may make sense because those vaccines have higher efficacy than AstraZeneca’s. People in those categories also have a weaker immune response. All three vaccines share some unknown factors, such as how long immunity lasts, how long the booster shot can wait and whether they can be used interchangeably in second doses.” Jennifer Gommerman, also an immunologist at the University of Toronto, agreed that mRNA vaccines “may be a better choice for groups with less immune response. But for the rest of us, in the name of herd immunity, I would take what’s given as it contributes to the war on COVID. All the vaccines prevent severe COVID requiring hospitalization. If you are offered a vaccine, you take it.”

A report that some First Nations still have water-boiling advisories in effect, decades since promises were made to resolve this problem, highlights the extended danger that the pandemic presents to those without the most basic necessities of life and health, in this case, water. Essential safeguards against disease include frequent handwashing yet even this is difficult. Granted that quantities of bottled water are delivered, surely this can only be a stopgap measure! Look at how much water it takes to flush toilets and wash hands, far less in cooking, in laundry, in looking after a sick baby, or in dealing with COVID19! The pandemic is highlighting preexisting problems yet again, showing where change in truth, reform, is imperative. If an exploratory vehicle can be sent to Mars at the cost of billions of dollars, why can’t people have clean water? It’s not as if we’re short of water, per se, in Canada. We appear to be short of the will to fix this.

It was a matter of justice that indigenous people in many areas have received at least the first injection of a vaccine, to help prevent further spread of the virus in already compromised areas. What has become described as ‘vaccine hesitancy,’ as opposed to outright refusal of the vaccine for various reasons, becomes more readily explained in light of indigenous people’s experiences of our health care system. An article in the CMAJ tells us: “As former Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Sheila North explained: ‘Back in residential school days, [people], that are now elders, remember being used as guinea pigs or [having] vaccines tested on them when they were children without their permission or their family’s permission.’ These concerns, fears and experiences need to be taken seriously by doctors and other health care professionals and need to be differentiated from the “anti-vax” movements that have thrived on social media in recent times.’ “

The authors go on to say: “Historian Maureen Lux has similarly documented multiple instances of medical experimentation on Indigenous Peoples, including a 12-year trial of the experimental bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine for tuberculosis on Cree and Nakoda Oyadebi infants in Saskatchewan during the 1930s and 1940s. A whole range of experimental surgical and drug treatments were also administered to Indigenous patients, without their consent, within Canada’s racially segregated system of Indian Hospitals during the early postwar years.” It is important in bioethics, in public policy, in moral theology, in the social and medical sciences and as a matter of public knowledge, that these and other factors become known and are incorporated into any response to First Nations, not only by government, with the sensitivity and cultural understanding needed to promote health and mental and spiritual soundness. The existence of water-boiling advisories suggests that we are at the very beginning of such an approach. Let’s hope that priority in vaccination schedules reflect that beginning, but more needs to follow.

Hallelujah! No, not Leonard Cohen, but the cry of an elderly couple after being released from hospital after both were treated for COVID-19. Bambi brought this important aspect of ‘the human factor’ in healing to my attention, and the article from the CBC shows yet again how the absence of loved ones may have a serious effect on our recovery from illness. That is only too human, therefore the experience of being barred from visiting elderly parents and loved ones, albeit for genuinely protective reasons, brought pain and hardship all round to families, and, again, these experiences need to be documented to help guide future policy in these matters. The photograph with the article shows a smiling trio, husband/wife/doctor, after husband and wife were brought into the same room to be treated after being separated. The ‘Hallelujah’ came after both recovered, while the physician is writing a book about the importance of ‘the human touch’ in health (and, we would add, in every area of life).

Our Lady, Health of the Sick, pray for us!

Let us pray that we may experience the sacrament of reconciliation with renewed depth, to taste the infinite mercy of God.

(Pope Francis’ intention for the month of March)

Moira and Bambi

Charlotte Lozier Institute
Charlotte Lozier Institute | The Charlotte Lozier Institute is committed to bringing the power of science, medicine, and research to bear in life-related policy making, media, and cultural debates.
The goal of the Charlotte Lozier Institute is to promote deeper public understanding of the value of human life, motherhood, and fatherhood, and to identify policies and practices that will protect life and serve both women’s health and family well-being. Your donation would truly be a gift as we continue to research and analyze the science and statistics in defense of life. lozierinstitute.org

The Globe and Mail www.theglobeandmail.com

Morning Update: 39 First Nations remain under long-term water advisories – The Globe and Mail Shamattawa was already dealing with a health emergency when a COVID-19 outbreak overwhelmed the Northern Manitoba First Nation community: They haven’t had access to clean tap water since 2018 …

National panel advises provinces not to use AstraZeneca vaccine on seniors

AstraZeneca, Moderna or Pfizer? Take whichever COVID-19 vaccine you’re offered, experts say

CMAJ – www.cmaj.ca

Medical experimentation and the roots of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Indigenous Peoples in Canada | CMAJ Rapid antigen screening of asymptomatic people as a public health tool to combat COVID-19

CBC – www.cbc.ca

The human side of healing: How seeing loved ones helps COVID-19 patients | CBC News COVID-19 restrictions are keeping many patients isolated in the hospital, but a new study is highlighting what doctors, patients and families have seen: being near loved ones can play a role in …