The first coronavirus vaccine jabs have already gone into the arms of people here in the UK, as Britain this week became the first country in the world to actually deploy a vaccine which had completed all its clinical trials and been signed off by the regulator. But there remain lots of questions about the vaccine – how has it been made so fast, can we be sure it is safe, who should get it first, and can Christians be given it without compromising on their religious convictions?
In each episode of Matters of Life and Death, brought to you by Premier Unbelievable?, John Wyatt and his son Tim discuss issues in healthcare, ethics, technology, science, faith and more. John is a doctor, professor of ethics, and writer and speaker on many of these topics, while Tim is a religion and social affairs journalist. We talk about how Christians can better engage with a particular question of life, death or something else in between.
The prominent vaccine sceptic turned US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is hard at work tearing apart America’s vaccine orthodoxy and establishment. For decades now questions have been raised about a supposed link between the MMR vaccine and autism. And the pandemic turbocharged vaccine hesitancy and the anti-vax movement. So what is the evidence that vaccination protects us from disease without causing us harm? Are the side effects actually so rare? Were corners cut by Big Pharma and the medical establishment in the rush to roll out covid jabs? And why do so many, including Christians, find it hard to trust the mountains of scientific evidence which points to the safety and efficacy of vaccination? Is the church especially fertile soil for conspiracy theories and mistrust of science to grow – and if so, should we be worried about this?
RFK Jr cancels $500m in funding for mRNA vaccines – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74dzdddvmjo
RFK Jr sacks entire US vaccine committee – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyge27y2g9o
John’s previous writing and podcasts about vaccines from the covid pandemic – https://www.johnwyatt.com/?s=vaccines
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For more reading on these issues, I have published an article exploring Christian ethics around vaccines which you can read here. You can also read an FAQ which tackles some of the questions people are concerned about here.
You can also listen to the two previous podcast episodes on vaccines above also.