Remove the Abortion Question from Vaccines
Dear Editor: Recently I received requests from parishioners to sign a “Religious Immunization Exemption” form on behalf of students who attend local colleges that require the COVID vaccine for on-campus learning in the fall.
Of course, the Catholic Church supports immunization as a rule (i.e., childhood vaccinations, etc.), and so I could not sign the form based on that principle.
With regard to the COVID vaccine itself, the Catholic Church has promoted the morality of the vaccine even though it has been derived from fetal tissue from procured abortions many decades ago.
With that being said, I fully understand the moral hesitancy of people based on that issue, so I pose this question: Why hasn’t the Catholic Church or the scientific community found a morally licit way to procure those cells and develop lines that could be readily used to develop vaccines and other medical treatments?
Many families suffer the tragedy of stillbirth.
Is there no one in the past several decades who was willing to let those stem cells be used so that the moral question of aborted cells being used could be eliminated?
I admit that there can be additional concerns about vaccines and treatments above and beyond the line of cells from which they are derived, but I suggest that eliminating the tie to aborted babies would ease the minds of Catholics and would go a long way to promote public health and safety.
Rev. John J. Costello
Whitestone
Editor’s note: Father Costello is the pastor of St. Luke Parish, Whitestone
Let Other Experts Speak About the Pandemic
Dear Editor: There are other prominent doctors and scientists in this country who should be allowed to speak on national television regarding their opinions about how to deal with the COVD-19 pandemic, and the continuing spread of the delta variant, besides Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been so inconsistent about this pandemic, including its actual origin from day one.
Many, including me, are getting fed up with Fauci’s constant gloom and doom assertions, and his constant flipping and flopping every single week.
Enough negativity from this man who also insists that the money allocated to the Wuhan Lab was not used for “gain of function research” on bat viruses, when there are scientists who will attest the money was used just for that purpose, among other things.
It is time for the biased, government-controlled media members to allow others who are experts in the field of epidemiology and infectious diseases to be able to give their opinions to the American people about the virus.
Senator Rand Paul, also a doctor, should fight to demand a hearing before the U.S. Department of Justice at which Fauci must be compelled to answer questions under oath about his knowledge of how this terrible COVID-19 pandemic started and to what extent was he personally involved with the research.
The American people have every right to know the full and factual story behind this terrible medical crisis, which has killed and sickened so many in our country.
Fauci knows a lot more than he is saying.
John Amato
Fresh Meadows
Let’s Pray For Simone Biles’ Recovery
Dear Editor: My heartfelt prayers go out to Simone Biles, who had suffered so much after being molested by Doctor Larry Nasser.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she felt the pain from her experiences and had to bow out of most of the gymnastics competitions she was set to participate in.
She has shown in the past a tremendous amount of ability in gymnastics.
Simone Biles is one of a kind and has shown pride, dedication, and loyalty to her fellow team members and the media should respect her decision to deal with her mental health.
As such let’s pray for her recovery.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose