DOCTORS ' LOUNGE
SPEAK YOUR MIND If you would like to respond to an article in this issue , please submit an article or letter to the editor . Contributions may be sent to editor @ glms . org . The GLMS Editorial Board reserves the right to choose what will be published . Please note that the views expressed in Doctors ’ Lounge or any other article in this publication are not those of the Greater Louisville Medical Society or Louisville Medicine .
MANDATE OR MORGUE AUTHOR Mary Barry , MD
Indiana has Kentucky beat right out the gate , so far as vaccine mandates . Indiana University - despite its governor ’ s ongoing refusal to mandate even masks - announced its no COVID-19 vaccine / no campus enrollment policy over a month ago . Immediately , students sued , but the IU order was upheld on first reading by Justice Amy Coney Barrett . The order allows “ ethical exemptions ” but I can ’ t imagine an example of same . It ’ s unethical to protect yourself and those more vulnerable than you from death ? It ’ s considered ethical to be stubbornly , suicidally , selfishly scared of the prevention , but not the lethal disease ?
Medical exemptions are allowed . I would hope that no permanent exemption be granted unless the FDA emergency authorization guidelines for each vaccine would forbid vaccination of a certain individual . Sites for vaccination have followed these guidelines since December 2020 with consistency and safety .
The allowed “ religious exemptions ” are coming out of the woodwork , all over the country . Mega churches in various states are printing up flyers that can be used to prove the required “ sincerely held religious belief ” which I translate as , “ Nobody gets to order me around .” A Rocklin , California pastor named Greg Fairrington will hand them out over email , but without providing any specific Christian or church doctrine . He posted on Instagram , “ We are not anti-vaccine , but we are pro-freedom .” 1
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does provide employers / institutions with a route - an interactive session with the petitioner - to seek objective evidence of such sincerely held beliefs , in the form of additional supporting information . I hunted around for such . However , most of these ancient texts are subject to highly variable interpretation . A pro-immunization organization has supplied a handy listing of various texts representing every major religion . ( 2 ) For instance , the Bhagavad Gita 3:14 states , in favor of getting vaccinated , “ The material world is full of contaminations , and one who is immunized by accepting prasadam of the Lord ( food offered to Vishnu ) is saved from the attack , whereas one who does not , becomes subjected to contamination .” Then there ’ s the Buddha ’ s sermon at Benares , also pro-vaccine : “ But to satisfy the necessities of life is not evil . To keep the body in good health is a duty , for otherwise we shall not be able to trim the lamp of wisdom , and keep our minds strong and clear . Water surrounds the lotus flower , but does not wet its petals .”
From the Torah comes Proverbs 23:12 : “ Apply thy heart unto instruction , and thine ears to the words of knowledge .”
The quoted pro-vaccine passages from Christian texts distinctly outnumber the anti-vax ones . Deuteronomy 22:8 says , “ When thou buildest a new house , then thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof , that thou bring not blood upon thy house , if any man fall from thence .” Clearly , this is a preventive health measure . But the vaccine refusers often wave signs that say , “ FAITH not shots ,” quoting Mark 5:34 : “ He said to her , Daughter , your faith has made you well ; go in peace and be healed of your disease .” I ’ d say there ’ s no interpretation of this text as preventive . It ’ s all about using faith as treatment . Yet in the case of COVID-19 , faith clearly fails , as 4.5 million deaths have proven . Avoiding infection remains the best hope for survival .
( continued on page 28 ) SEPTEMBER 2021 27