Brian McCallIn the August 7, 2020 CFN Weekly News Roundup, Matt Gaspers and I discussed the serious moral issue of vaccines being cultured or produced using aborted children. The use of aborted children in the process raises serious issues of formal and material cooperation with evil. Yet, there are other serious ethical issues involved in the topic of vaccines. These relate to the question of whether the civil authority can justly compel people to receive a vaccine. Is such a command within the legitimate power of civil rulers? Does it unjustly infringe on the obligation of individuals to care for their own health or interfere with the legitimate authority of parents over children? Is it prudent, given the serious questions some people are raising about the ethical shortcomings (beyond abortion) around the vaccine industry to accept vaccines at all?
Even if the connection to abortion were removed from the equation, the above questions raise serious moral issues. In July of 2020, an interesting debate occurred between Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (son of the former attorney general and nephew of the president) and Alan Dershowitz (Harvard Law professor who has represented both O.J. Simpson and, more recently, President Trump in the impeachment trial).
Certainly, neither of these public figures are traditional Catholics (although Mr. Kennedy did sign the Appeal for the Church and the World, released in early May of this year). Yet, I believe their debate provides important information about vaccines and the vaccine industry that will be helpful for our readers. We know at some point soon we will be offered, pressured, or coerced to accept a COVID-19 vaccine. Even before that day arrives, we are currently pressured to accept 72 vaccines for our children. The information that Mr. Kennedy presents throughout the debate is very thorough. Even if he may not argue the question from traditional Catholic principles, he makes very impressive arguments. I believe this information is well worth an hour of one’s time.
Matt Gaspers
