Among those around the world who have access to the COVID-19 vaccines but refuse to take them – and some even campaign vociferously against them in the social media and spread fake news – are many religious people of a variety of faiths. 

More than five million people around the world, most of them unvaccinated by choice or because their countries could not afford them, have died as a result of the virus in the last five years. Heads of governments and international health organizations are trying hard to bring an end to the pandemic. 

Leaders of the various faiths, influenced by their beliefs, values and traditions, needed to address challenging public health realities and take bold decision and actions in the days of the AIDS pandemic, Ebola, Spanish flu, or the bubonic plague, just as they do today. 

As a result, Dr. Inon Schenker – a veteran Israeli public health expert who spent years pushing for circumcision in Africa to lower the mortality rate from AIDS –recently initiated the Impact Vaccination Initiative, which began last week with a half-day workshop under the auspices of the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog and greeted by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, which was held at Jerusalem’s Van Leer Institute and broadcast via YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24wMxS93TLs). The theme of the opening event was the “Responsibilities of Faith Leaders in Supporting National Efforts Fighting Pandemics and the Tools at Their Disposal.”

“For nearly two years since the outbreak of the new Coronavirus,” said the President in his message, “we have all experienced a new reality, a new world order with unbelievable difficulties, but there is also a rare opportunity for cooperation across borders, faiths and nations as part of improving our abilities to cope with the consequences of the pandemic. Among these collaborations, the great value of interfaith partnerships is very prominent. They can boost closer ties among people, bring down walls and of course lead to joint action in dealing with these challenges.”  After the event, he held discussions on the topic with religious leaders at his official residence. 

A panel on the “Difficulties in Getting People of Faith Vaccinated Against SARS-Cov-2,” which I was asked to moderate, brought together Israel-based Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Baha’i leaders to express their views.

The faith leaders were: 

• His Eminence Archbishop of Constantina Aristarchos, who was born in Crete in 1948 and has lived in Jerusalem since 1962. He became a monk in the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, studied Greek and Latin classical literature and theology in Greece, speaks six languages, was ordained as a bishop and has been the chief secretary of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem since 2001. 

• David Rutstein, secretary-general of the Bahá’í International Community, a family medicine physician and former deputy Surgeon-General of the US, a senior health executive, public health expert and clinician who founded SolHEALTH, a non-profit organization working to promote health and prevent disease in diverse populations globally 

• Qadi (judge) Muhammad Abu Obied, a member of the High Sharea Court of Appeals in Jerusalem. He served as a regional Qadi in Nazareth, Baqa and Jerusalem. He is an attorney, a member of the Israel Law Association, an expert in Islamic law and a member of ethics committees of many hospitals in Israel. 

• Rabbanit Devorah Evron, spiritual leader at Bar-Ilan University and director of Ohr Torah Stone’s Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership at Midreshet Lindenbaum, a teacher of Talmud and other Jewish texts, a mother and grandmother. 

They dressed differently and observe different religious holidays and rituals, but they all believe in God, and their lives are guided by the ethics and moral teachings of their religion. They expressed very similar views about the importance of protecting one’s own and one’s family’s health during the pandemic and the permission – even the moral and religious obligation, to be fully vaccinated against the Coronavirus. 

The archbishop said that his church and Christian churches all over the world “hold a positive view of vaccination. God permits doctors to treat, Our patriarch was among first to get vaccination. God protects us but must protect one’s health. There are still some not yet persuaded. The church tried to fight opposition, some ofthose died. Some were saved at the last moment. 

The qadi said the Prophet Muhammad was asked by a man from Arabia if one should take medication for illness, even though God can cure disease. The Prophet said that one do everything possible to protect one’s health and taking medication – today this includes effective vaccinations – and not leave it to prayer. It is an obligation for every Muslim to get vaccinated, he said. 

Rabbanit Evron said that when the vaccine first became available, some rabbis did not say it was a religious obligation, but only that Jews are permitted to get the shot, but as the pandemic spread and infected and killed thousands of Israelis, nearly all rabbis and rabbinical organizations encouraged followers to be vaccinated and many said it was a religious obligation.

The Baha’I leader said that his faith always believed that “science and religion are part of same continuum. Science without the ethics of religion can be destructive, but religion without the logic science can lead to superstition and conflict. When any medical or public health event occurs, we consult with best experts and adhere to their views. All Baha’I communities in world have consulted and those with access to vaccine all get the shot,” he said. . 

Asked whether leaders of faith could persuade the more-conservative followers of religions who are skeptical of science to get the shots, all four said this was possible and important. All religious leaders here have consulted with the Israeli health authorities and urged their followers to observe lockdowns, social distancing, mask wearing and vaccination, they said. 

The qadi noted that for two years, instead of millions of Muslims carrying out the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca – one of the five pillars of the faith – only a few thousand were permitted to go so as to protect the health of their co-religionists. Christian, Jewish and Baha’i leaders prohibited traditional mass celebrations, and many prayed at home rather than at places of worship. 

Rutstein said that the woman in the family is usually the person who decides on health matters, and “if you get to the woman, you have a better chance of persuading members to take care of their health.” 

Asked whether there was an ethical problem in the fact that Israel was the first country to purchase and provide the Pfizer vaccine to all adults and then to children when poor countries could not afford it, the faith leaders agreed that this country was a “laboratory that tried the shots on its population after it was approved by the World Health Organization” and, because of its excellent and centralized community health system, was able to show the way for countries around the world. “Others learned from our experience here.” 

All four religious leaders enthusiastically endorsed the vaccination of children from the age of five. 

Evron said that while Israel was a pioneer in vaccination and has proven it is safe and effective, “Israel should be active in establishing a task force for helping other countries. “The world is interconnected. We all love the country where we live, bhut we are obliged to help others.” 

After the conclusion of the panel, Norway’s Chief rabbi Michael Melchior, an Orthodox Jew and a former Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs who is a communal rabbi in Jerusalem whjle still holding his chief rabbi title, said that we all have taken the booster, but religious leaders have to demand that the government do what it can to show solidarity and share what remained with other countries; in Africa, only six percent have been vaccinated. This is ethically right, as well as good for us. “If the world is not protected, the disease will come back to us,” he declared.