Few religions are anti-vax

To the Editor:

Katherine Scott, in her Letter to the Editor on August 31, utterly misunderstands Ken Rusczyk’s Letter to the Editor (August 18), which called for people who refuse to get vaccinated for the “wrong reason[s]” to not seek help from the hospital but to rather seek help from a funeral parlor.

Mr. Rusczyk articulates, with precision, brevity, and black humor, what a lot of us think: Why should we waste public health expertise to aid those who reject public health experts? Why should public health tax dollars be marshaled to help those who reject taxes, government, and public health sciences — those who just want to be “free” to catch COVID?

Maybe, if they need medical services to help them fend off their freely acquired COVID case, they should be “free” to pay for it all by themselves.

Then, to make her case against Mr. Rusczyk, Ms. Scott invokes “right reasons” for not getting vaccinated — medical and religious. Clearly Mr. Rusczyk’s letter does not advocate for denying medical services for people who have either medical or religious reasons (the right reasons) for not taking the vaccine.

I suspect Mr. Rusczyk is probably suspicious (as I am) of the multitude of those claiming religious reasons for not getting the vaccine, since only a few religions actually have theological objections to vaccinations — Dutch Reformed, Faith Tabernacle, Church of the First Born, Faith Assembly, and End Time Ministry.

The following religions have no theological objection to vaccines: Amish, Anglican, Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Congregational, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopalian, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Jehovah’s Witness, Judaism, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox, Quaker, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Scientology, Seventh-Day Adventist, Unitarian-Universalist.

Brian Hughes
Oak Bluffs

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