Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic inspired a fierce discussion on pros and cons of vaccinations among Christians. Frequently, this emotional dispute is not based on facts, and this might be due to the fact that the decision situation (“to be vaccinate or not to be vaccinated”) is quite complex. In this paper we develop a risk-analytic model of the vaccination decision and explain the benefits of vaccinations against SARS-Cov-2 on different levels. Furthermore, we show that the Great Commandment of love calls for avoiding all harm to the neighbor even if this harm is indirect and under uncertainty. Consequently, it is a Christian duty to love one’s neighbor and be vaccinated.
Highlights
A vaccination against an infectious disease is one of the most effective, efficient, and safe instruments to protect the health of a population
Based on our reflections on Christian love and the risk theoretic decision model of vaccination against COVID-19, we can state that Christians must consider the long-term, indirect, and uncertain consequences of their decision to be vaccinated or to reject the vaccination
This reflection will include the risks of harming other people
Summary
A vaccination against an infectious disease is one of the most effective, efficient, and safe instruments to protect the health of a population. The risk of a person vaccinated with Comirnaty© (BNT162b2, vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 of Pfizer-BioNTech) to get infected is about 50 % of the respective statistic of a non-vaccinated,[20] the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 is only about 30 %, the likelihood of being hospitalized is less than 20 %, of being admitted to an ICU is less than 10% and of dying less than 2 % of the respective statistic of a non-vaccinated.[21,22] The precise figures depend on the age and health condition of the vaccinated, the time after the vaccination and the virus variant, but in all cases, the arm of the vaccinated has much lower probabilities of developing severe disease symptoms than the arm of the non-vaccinated.
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