Catholics and Vaccines

I've always been curious about how the Catholic church feels about vaccinations and why they feel that way. When I was a kid, I used to hear stories about how some religious people would refuse health care altogether because they instead believed in putting their lives in the hands of God. I assumed for a while that this idea of faith must be the reason that the church objects to vaccines.

What I found out, however, is much different. As it turns out the objection does not exist within the idea of vaccinations, but rather in the way that vaccines are created. Many commonly-used vaccines today were made using cells apparently obtained from abortions (stem cells.) Some Catholics believe that the vaccinations are therefore "tainted" because abortions are inherently evil. The Vatican has made no strong comment either way, recognizing that health is an important cause and also that the abortion issue is a big deal for many Catholics. They simply say that parents may or may not allow their children to be vaccinated. Of course, most schools disagree with this idea and some have even barred the attendance of Catholic students who abstained from vaccination on the grounds of  religious belief. It's still an item of controversy.

Here's the news story I read relating to this topic.