Vaccination against Covid-19 is “an act of love,” Pope Francis said in a public service ad that will circulate online and on television on Wednesday.
In partnership with the Ad Council, a non-profit organization, the Pope is encouraging people around the world to get vaccinated in his first campaign outside the United States.
The ad shows the Pope, speaking in Spanish with English subtitles, with church officials from the United States, Mexico, Brazil and other countries describing vaccination as a moral responsibility.
“Thanks to God’s grace and the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from Covid-19,” the pope said in the ad. “They bring hope to end the pandemic, but only if they are available to everyone and if we work together.”
“Getting the vaccines approved by the respective authorities is an act of love. And helping the majority of people do that is an act of love,” Francis continues. “Vaccination is a simple yet profound way to care for each other, especially the most vulnerable.”
By participating in the vaccination campaign, the Pope has joined a group of influencers, including former presidents, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Elmo from ‘Sesame Street’. The plea has become increasingly urgent as the mutating virus circulates through unvaccinated populations, threatening global efforts to return to normal.
At faith centers, efforts to counter vaccine hesitancy have often been arduous. Vaccine acceptance among Hispanic Catholics in the United States rose to 80 percent in June, from 56 percent in March, while it rose from 68 percent to 79 percent among white Catholics, according to a June survey of more than 5,000 adults by the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core nonprofit groups. By comparison, 56 percent of Hispanic Protestants and white Evangelical Protestants feel the same, a much smaller percentage than other groups.
Many religious Americans who are hesitant told researchers faith-based arguments could convince them to take the chance.
“If you’re used to your pastor being a culture critic or a social commentator, you’re more likely to listen to him whether he’s talking about the election or a social movement or the vaccine,” said Heidi A. Campbell. , a professor at Texas A&M University who studies media and religion. “You’re going to give more credibility to everything he says because it has an air of divine authority that he wouldn’t have if he were just a teacher or a news commentator.”
Pastors in black communities, where church members skeptical of the Covid-19 vaccines cite a history of medical abuse, have publicly rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated. Orthodox Jewish rabbis have taken to YouTube and Zoom to approve the shot. During the holy month of Ramadan, national Muslim groups issued statements stressing that the vaccine was halal, or allowed to use.
Still, some religious leaders have encountered resistance online and in the air, where large audiences can be exposed to misinformation about vaccines. Recordings of rabbis making unproven claims about the effects of the vaccines on fertility are circulating among Orthodox Jewish communities on WhatsApp. On Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, some churches and Christian influencers have spread conspiracy theories linking vaccines to microchips or blaming those given a chance for not trusting God’s will.
Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, recently declared itself a “mask-free church campus” whose congregation members “celebrate faith over fear.” The Facebook page, with 60,000 followers, features videos of crowded gatherings where Greg Locke, the pastor, talks about “this Delta variant nonsense” and calls the vaccine a “forced communist jab.”
Understand the State of Vaccine and Mask Mandates in the US
- Mask Rules. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended in July that all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in indoor public places in areas with outbreaks, a reversal of the guidance it offered in May. Find out where CDC guidelines apply and where states have their own masking policies. The battle over masks has become controversial in some states, with some local leaders defying state bans.
- Vaccine rules. . . and Buselessness. Private companies are increasingly mandating coronavirus vaccines for employees, taking different approaches. Such mandates are permitted by law and have been confirmed in court proceedings.
- College and universities. More than 400 colleges and universities are demanding that students be vaccinated against Covid-19. Almost all of them are in states that voted for President Biden.
- schools. On August 11, California announced that teachers and staff at both public and private schools should be vaccinated or tested regularly, the first state in the nation to do so. A survey published in August found that many U.S. parents of school-aged children are opposed to mandatory vaccines for students, but were more in favor of mask mandates for students, teachers and staff who have not received their injections.
- Hospitals and Medical Centers. Many hospitals and major health systems require workers to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, citing the increasing caseload fueled by the Delta variant and persistently low vaccination coverage in their communities, even within their workforce.
- New York. On August 3, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced proof of vaccination would be required from employees and customers for indoor meals, gyms, performances and other indoor settings, becoming the first U.S. city to require vaccines for a wide variety of activities. . City hospital employees should also receive a vaccine or be tested weekly. Similar rules apply to employees in New York State.
- At the federal level. The Pentagon announced it would aim to make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for the country’s 1.3 million active-duty troops “by mid-September.” President Biden announced that all civilian federal employees would be required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel.
Pope Francis, who was criticized earlier in the pandemic for not wearing a mask in public, was vaccinated this year and has already publicly stated that vaccination was morally acceptable and an ethical obligation. In the Vatican, a room intended for papal meetings was converted into a vaccination clinic.
By participating in the Ad Council campaign, the Pope’s message can reach an even wider audience. The Ad Council said it would run the ad on the Telemundo, Universo and WarnerMedia platforms, as well as media outlets in Spanish-speaking countries.
“We’ve always said that the messenger can be equally or more important than the actual message itself,” said Lisa Sherman, the chief executive of the Ad Council, a group that led a similar crusade in the 1950s, when she approached Americans. insisted on getting vaccinated against polio.
The Ad Council has gathered a diverse group of more than 1,100 representatives for its $60 million vaccination campaign. Earlier this summer, around the same time the organization was making plans with the Pope, they also signed up the pop rock band Foreigner.
