I saw this today over at The Catholic Monitor: Link. It was a comparison of my points about the Covid vaccine to opposite points made by Ann Barnhardt: Link. Her post came the day after my own.
I was expressing some minor issue one evening last week in a post about all the Covid hysteria that keeps dominating the headlines, and the private judgment of some that taking the Covid vaccine is somehow objectively a sin. That had followed my observation that Charles Coulombe got himself tarred and feathered by the professional pundits for over a week recently (I hope that is over), including by Barnhardt who had ridiculed him for his weight in a rather scathing critique of his reading of tarot cards, even though in that post I did not mention her.
The Vatican says it is NOT a sin to receive the Covid vaccine. Traditional priests like the SSPX, FSSP, and other Trad groups, as far as I can tell, agree.
Miss Ann Barnhardt, however, insists it IS.
She said that taking the vaccine is a “massive” sin against prudence, even to save your job, because in her scientific/moral theology assessment the risk of death is actually--in her words-- greater than playing Russian roulette. "Massive" isn't something "venial." Therefore it would be, according to her, a mortal sin, a damnable offense.
I think so far I’m being fair in laying out what her position is.
By the way, a hand pistol has 6 chambers, making her statistical assessment a 1 in 6 chance, or worse, that you're gonna stroke out and die, if you get the Covid shot. Hmmm.
Perhaps that was meant as hyperbole, but what I won’t do is insult her for comments like this. I will offer, instead, counter points for the reader considering both sides of the argument.
1. What matters most in deciding if it is a sin is to consider the authoritative ruling of Church authorities. I reference those sources, whereas Barnhardt decidedly did not. Not even bishops like Bishop Athanasius Schneider have gone as far as this one lay blogger. This would only weaken her argument.
2. As I originally said, I recognize the evils surrounding the vaccine and the actual prudence of generally avoiding it—if you can--supporting the pastoral letter of an SSPX priest C212 linked to last week, Father not going himself as far as this person.
3. However, Ann is not giving accurate science. Yes, of course it would be extremely imprudent to take a vaccine that poses the same or worse statistical risk to life than actually putting a bullet into one of a few pistol chambers, and pulling the trigger. But common sense says the data does not support this extreme conclusion.
4. Seriously, if say you’re a Catholic man providing for a large family, wife at home, (there are many Trads that fit this description), required to take the vaccine at work, with access to actual comprehensive reports on the arguably low risks, it is not so simple as giving up your livelihood to boycott a vaccine. And risk having to put your family on food stamps.
To not take the vaccine in those specific cases could also be imprudent, in my opinion. Putting your family unnecessarily into poverty is imprudent. The Priest in confession would actually be the one though to advise on this for each person in their circumstances, if this is a question of actual prudence (vs. being an act that is absolutely evil, or not).
But Ann Barnhardt is actually suggesting that the chances of dying from the vaccine are so high that it is sinfully imprudent to take the vaccine.
If she sincerely believes that math, then her conclusion makes sense for her to follow.
5. But that assessment is, to put it, well, diplomatically, not even remotely based on all the statistical evidence, even those reports that most detail associated cases of death or serious adverse reactions.
That said, if even 1 out of 100 die from the vaccine, as her jelly bean meme suggested, Ann has provided no data to back that grossly exaggerated # up.
And that does not demonstrate causation. On the contrary, the latest report of all officially reported post-vaccination deaths puts #s of associated deaths at 0.0016%. In fact, nearly every vaccine or drug, in a very small % of people, is loosely associated with death or serious adverse side effects.
6. It is a fallacy to jump to the conclusion that there is causation, when there is correlation between taking the vaccine and deaths. Many taking the vaccine are older adults with serious co-morbidities already. This population experiences strokes and heart attacks every day. On the order of an an entire nation, or globe, statistically there are going to be a very small number of people who happen to die after taking any vaccine or drug. This is not to say there IS NOT more serious risk or could be, but the data so far is not concluding what Ann thinks it is.
That said, if Ann can prove the risk of death is 1/6, or even just 1/100, without cherry-picking from small, obscure reports, I will personally donate to her website. Enough $ to buy one of those cheesecakes I hear Italy is known for (Ann now lives in Italy).
But I hope she doesn't take me up on my wager. I am ready for the Covid hysteria to end.