The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who has made vaccination an official initiative in its humanitarian relief program and has also called on its members to see that their own children are properly vaccinated, in March 2021 added encouragement to vaccinate to its General Handbook of Instructions, noting that “Vaccinations administered by competent medical professionals protect health and preserve life. … Members of the Church are encouraged to safeguard themselves, their children, and their communities through vaccination.” In August 2021, the Church again encouraged vaccination, specifically against Covid-19, in a public statement from the First Presidency, 3 men deemed prophets, seers, and revelators: “We know that protection from [Covid and its variants] can only be achieved by immunizing a very high percentage of the population…. To provide personal protection from such severe infections, we urge individuals to be vaccinated.”1
In September 2021, the leaders of the church announced that masks would be required in its temples, after previously urging followers to wear masks, social distance, and get vaccinated.
“We find ourselves fighting a war against the ravages of COVID-19 and its variants, an unrelenting pandemic. We want to do all we can to limit the spread of these viruses. And we know that protection from the diseases they cause can only be achieved by immunizing a very high percentage of the population.”
“To limit exposure to these viruses, we urge the use of face masks in public meetings whenever social distancing is not possible,” the First Presidency wrote.
President Nelson has said he prayed often for the development of COVID-19 vaccines. He called the vaccines a “godsend” in a January social media post after he received his first vaccination shot. The church released a photo of him, along with images of other senior church leaders getting their shots. That same day, the First Presidency released a statement urging church members to quell the pandemic through vaccination.
“We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders,” the church said in a statement on Aug. 12, according to the AP.
The issue of vaccinations and masking is also at the forefront of decisions being made by church-sponsored universities.
- BYU is requiring students, faculty and staff to report their vaccination status by Aug. 19 so it can decide whether masks will be required on campus.
- BYU-Idaho President Henry J. Eyring posted a video last week encouraging students to consider vaccination in the face of “serious medical threats.” He said 50% of BYU-I students are vaccinated so far. He said 75% is the floor for the percentage of students he wants to authorize full in-class operations for fall semester. He noted that church leaders, including his own father, President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency, set an example for church members and university students by getting vaccinated.
- BYU-Hawaii will require students to be vaccinated.
- Ensign College will “strongly encourage” but not mandate COVID-19 vaccinations.
“We are dealing with a new foe that’s so much more contagious, so it doesn’t require that high of a percentage of unvaccinated people to spread but it is spreading faster in those parts of the state seeing lower vaccination rates,” Oregon state epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger told the Washington Post. “Those counties with higher vaccination rates have a fairly slow rise in hospitalizations, but the counties with the lower vaccination rates have a much steeper rise in hospitalizations.”
“Living in a hot spot while vaccinated today is much safer than living in a hot spot while unvaccinated last summer,” the Post reported Thursday, based on new data analysis. “High-vaccination states have one-third the number of new cases per capita as low-vaccination states.”
Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked their lay bishops to support their applications to receive religious waivers from their employers.
“No church official can sign any kind of document supporting the notion that church doctrine/teaching is opposed to vaccination or that the church is opposed to vaccination mandates,” read a letter sent to all bishops and stake (regional) presidents from the faith’s Area Presidency. “As to the former, the opposite is true [the church not only supports but also encourages vaccination]; as to the latter, the Brethren [top officials] have not taken a position.”
Assertions that belief in agency provide “a valid religious objection” to government mandates, the letter says, “have never been supported by the church.” The letter even says if leaders sign such exemptions, it could be considered perjury.
Source: Deseret
