Posted by:
Nightingale
(
)
Date: August 16, 2021 02:26PM
Yeah it rains a lot over there, it seems. But I love the rain.
My maternal grandmother was a darling little Irish lady with a glorious singing voice. I didn't inherit a smidge of her talent. I'd love to go one day and see where she was born (Limerick).
I don't think we've had anybody from Ireland posting here before. No-one that gave that location anyway (not that you have to give a location, everything can be private here).
Anyway, welcome to the board.
And 80% vaxxed in Ireland. That's great news. Our number in Canada is 71+% fully vaccinated. 82% have had their first shot.
It's become an election issue now. A snap federal election was just called (2 yrs early) and the current feds (who will likely win again) have just announced a vaccine mandate for all who work for the federal government. The main opposition party has said they encourage, but will not mandate, vaccines. I can understand different takes on how to go about protecting people. But not an insistence on no protection at all, from the individual level on up to people in government who are calling the shots, literally in this case.
I must admit to being shocked and amazed at people being anti-vax due to their religious beliefs. I never noticed that tendency before except in Christian Science but even they don't avoid all medical care.
Jehovah's Witnesses are infamous for refusing blood transfusions, which is still current doctrine. They also banned their adherents from being vaccinated from 1931 to 1952. Thankfully, they reversed that policy.
I've attended more than my fair share of evangelical church services and have never heard anti-medicine or anti-vax beliefs taught. But now, in the midst of a pandemic many EVs are resistant to getting the vaccine, which baffles me. However, it is on trend with where some of them were already. From an article from USA Today:
"Sadly, once nearly eradicated childhood diseases are on the rise as more people claim religious exemptions to decline vaccinations for their children. Yet practically no major religion prohibits vaccination, and some consider it an obligation because of the potential to save lives, as the COVID-19 vaccines clearly do."
In the article, Dr. Andrew Wong, an orthopaedic surgeon, states:
"As a doctor and a Christian, I am struck by the profound difference that my fellow Christians could make in the trajectory of the pandemic by getting vaccinated. The delta variant, a much more transmissible form of COVID-19, threatens a new round of restrictions and a new round of deaths. And nearly all the deaths involve people who haven’t been vaccinated.
"Earlier this year, 45% of white evangelical adults said they would not be vaccinated, according to a Pew Research Center survey. That amounts to more than 45 million Americans or 14% of the population, based on the 2020 Census of American Religion. If this group alone accepted the COVID-19 vaccine, we could begin to close in on herd immunity and move beyond this painful and deadly season."
Here's the article (July 2021):
(NB: religious beliefs expressed)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2021/07/28/take-covid-19-vaccine-its-christian-thing-do/5389873001/Dr. Wong uses the scriptural tenet that I mentioned here recently, the repeated appeal in the Bible and in countless sermons to love one another. As the good doctor says, being vaccinated and thereby helping to prevent transmission of a potentially deadly virus is a great way to show love for others. The vaccines have been shown to be effective in preventing spread of disease. That should be the end of the argument, you would think.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2021 02:28PM by Nightingale.