Fair and equal distribution and access to anti Covid-19 vaccine

Information notice of the UISG & USG Health Commission

The Holy Father has appointed a Task Force on the particular role the Church can play in addressing the pandemic. Among the aims of this Task Force is to make anti-Covid-19 vaccines available and accessible to all, avoiding the phenomenon of "pharmaceutical marginality" that excludes the poorest from access to essential health care. On the one hand, it is intended to focus on the trust that people have in the Church to make the vaccine acceptable where there is resistance from the people and, on the other hand, to mobilize the forces of the religious world and the church in general to ensure a fair distribution and access to the vaccine so that the poor are not excluded. It is then also a matter of promoting the active involvement of the religious world - where necessary - in the administration of the vaccine through church health institutions.

For this reason, the Task Force is developing dissemination tools in various languages that explain what the vaccine is, what the pope has said about the vaccine, what is asked of Christians on the subject, so as to remove fears and resistance. These are tools that can be made available in various languages for use on digital platforms and in print - adapted to their respective cultural contexts - and also adaptable for specific contexts where corrections are needed.

There is much work going on with the collaboration of various Catholic NGOs, including facilitating the acceptability of forms of prevention of the spread of Covid-19. The Task Force is attempting to identify channels and tools through which the church's position on this issue can be disseminated and to provide assistance upon request to those in the religious world who wish to become involved in the task.

The Health Commission would like to inform the Superiors General of what is being done in this area and invite them to encourage possible contacts with the Task Force.

The chair of the Covid Task Force, part of the Vatican Covid-19 Commission established by the Holy See's Dicastery for Integral Human Development, is Sr Carol Keehan, RC, who can be contacted at carolkeehan5@gmail.com 

For more information also visit: Vaccine: a paper from the Vatican COVID-19 Commission and the Pontifical Academy for Life (humandevelopment.va)   

The UISG & USG Health Commission