Vaccination and the Common Good

"Getting a vaccine, the note [from the Vatican Congregation of the Faith] added, is also a question of promoting the common good.” The note clarifies conflicting reports from some quarters that getting the Covid-19 vaccines may be immoral.

Vatican endorses Covid vaccines: Covid-19 vaccines that use the cells of aborted foetuses are 'morally acceptable' according to the Vatican’s doctrine office. @ctrlamb reports

https://t.co/4dfPaZXoeJ

— The Tablet (@The_Tablet) December 21, 2020

No Instant Fix But a Great Help

Vaccines for Covid-19 are on the horizon. Yet vaccines will not fix instantly the pandemic. Replies to three questions posed in this short article can help one appreciate that human effort remains key. Human cooperation with a vaccine  will move the world beyond the pandemic.

“We need to restore faith and confidence in our scientists, institutions, and science itself, so that we can minimize vaccine hesitancy and have a successful vaccination program.” https://t.co/T95CSLEC08

— Paul Panaretos (@PDPswim) November 15, 2020

Point of Care

This ship’s “crew is now committed to raising awareness and providing information to the local populations and offers on-the-spot first-stage outpatient treatment.”



The “Pope Francis Hospital Ship” brings medical equipment and assistance to #coronavirus-hit communities along the Amazon River in #Brazil. https://t.co/CHHvGWRTVD
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) July 13, 2020

For the World

The world is in the human imagination in ways it was not before it was seen for the first time from space. The current pandemic has made humans more aware of the earth’s fragility as well as its resilience. The word world evokes predicaments to its peace, health, economy, justice, relationships—to name a few.

At a press conference Cardinal Peter Turkson highlighted peace, harmony and security to which the Vatican’s COVID-19 Commission attends. Member of the Commission and economic professor Sister Alessandra Smerilli remarked about the perils to the global economy.

A #Vatican cardinal has said that the world is facing a “tsunami of humanitarian crises.” https://t.co/ItlOQCSHSE

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) July 7, 2020

Airborne No Only Droplet

The body of knowledge about the novel coronavirus continues to grow as the pandemic surges in some places and ebbs in others. Ebbing is no sign of disappearing but of prudent behaviour of individuals and  by health-care tracking. Evidence now suggests that the virus is airborne, that is, no longer only contained in droplets expelled from airways of infected people.

Another system the virus seems to affect—it causes more than respiratory illness—is the neurological system.

The World Health Organization confirmed there is "emerging evidence" of airborne transmission of the coronavirus. https://t.co/JoBxHdhMC1

— CNN (@CNN) July 8, 2020

To Transform Communities

The Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Law School together have begun the SEICHE Center for Health and Justice It seeks to identify “the legal, policy, and practice levers that can improve the health of individuals and communities impacted by mass incarceration.” The collaboration promotes both justice and health.

Yale School of Medicine & Yale Law School to Launch Center Focused on Health and Mass Incarcerationhttps://t.co/iKGeoPwWy8 pic.twitter.com/iyS8ZPCSZz

— Yale University (@Yale) June 30, 2020

Not Respiratory Only

The novel coronavirus was unknown until it appeared late last year. Inferences were made based on the symptoms its disease, Covid-19, manifested. Covid-19 initially manifested as a respiratory disease. Later, clotting of blood was recognized in lungs, then outside lungs. With ongoing study Covid-19 affects all organ-systems as this this brief summary reports.

‘We thought this was only a respiratory virus. Turns out, it goes after the pancreas. It goes after the heart. It goes after the liver, the brain, the kidney and other organs’: Experts are just beginning to understand the many COVID-19 health problems https://t.co/SgoiTrsW4I pic.twitter.com/XFXuxMCNTK

— Reuters (@Reuters) June 27, 2020

Brief Conversation on Tracing

Contact tracing seeks to identify an infected person’s contacts. It is one way to curb the spread of a virus. Some countries have used it to great effect—South Korea is one example. Others countries are beginning to use it more—the United States.

CNN’s Dr. Sanja Gupta converses with a contact tracer and with an epidemiologist who work in New York City. Within the transcript is a link to the audio of the conversation.

Across the country, local officials are hiring people to track down anyone who may have been exposed to Covid-19. @drsanjaygupta talks to Dr. Syra Madad, an epidemiologist and special pathogens expert, about the importance and process of contact tracing. https://t.co/zkAOt1p1e8

— CNN (@CNN) June 11, 2020

Improving Quality of Health Care

In addition to basic care a “decade-long project led by…a distinguished research professor at York University looked at long-term care in four Canadian provinces…and five countries.” It noted that art and space significantly “influence the way that residents interact among themselves and with the staff.” 

As we work to fix problems in long-term care in Canada, research suggests we should pay attention to laundry, food, art and space — and to the people in charge of those things. https://t.co/34e5j2AhKZ

— McMaster University (@McMasterU) June 9, 2020

Window on Leading

Adults generally wear multiple “hats.” During the pandemic shouldering multiple roles has become more intense. At a New York City hospital one person whose “roles as a doctor, scientist, and administrator were all facing extraordinary demands simultaneously” tells his story of leading through the pandemic’s peak.

“Social distancing and sheltering in place moved the peak from 22,000 to 2,100. It saved more lives than any treatments we can provide patients.” https://t.co/qC5hsAJug1 #COVID19 via @YaleInsights

— Paul Panaretos (@PDPswim) June 6, 2020

Passed First Human Trial

A vaccine for the novel coronavirus passed it first human trial. The speed to produce it is unprecedented. The vaccine “has just entered phase two of its clinical trials.” Science editor Nsikan Akpan at National Geographic tells the story and “how mRNA vaccines work.”

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Wiki-image Yellow Column by “Arntor | CC BY-SA 4.0"

Mindfulness: New and Old

Y ale Medicine posted some physicians recommend the practice of mindfulness to help “patients cope with illness and the anxiety related to it.” A program developed in 1970 undergirds this contribution to health care.

People of faith recognize familiar elements in the practice that are older than 50 years. Jesuit Chris Krall noted 16^th-Century Christian foundations.

Modern neuroscience advocates the use of imagination and attention to bodily sensations as treatments for the long-term effects of trauma, but this approach is nowhere near as novel as it might sound, argues Chris Krall SJ. https://t.co/PblXQA5jmJ #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #AMDG pic.twitter.com/VwkXYoQ6VD

— Thinking Faith (@ThinkingFaith) May 23, 2020

Largest Lockdown

India began the largest lockdown in March in order to mitigate the novel coronovirus. In his third report, America Magazine’s Kevin Clarke looked at how the lockdown and the public health system complicated the struggle with the virus for Catholics hospitals.

Here is the article Father Malone is referring to, by @ClarkeAtAmerica https://t.co/GyBDawPbiQ

— America Magazine (@americamag) May 22, 2020

Late But Correct

The word that the coronavirus more adversely affects peoples of color has been announced sooner than in past circumstances. The announcement is nevertheless late; it began in typically understated fashion. Today the U.S. bishops supported the needs and rights of indigenous peoples.

“We hold in prayer our brothers and sisters who are suffering and grieving in these communities, and we stand with them in calling for a robust response to the pandemic in their lands.” #Catholic #COVID https://t.co/YJ2gHTlORJ

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) May 15, 2020

Focus on Health

A pandemic add to the observance of International Nurses Day. It coincides with the birth of Florence Nightingale. This year it also evokes prayer for nurses and their expertise and selflessness.

On this International Nurses Day, birthday of Florence Nightingale, we also remember the Sisters of Mercy who accompanied her to Scutari to nurse the wounded. We pray today in gratitude for all nurses& nurses in training. https://t.co/hISPy2qkG7 pic.twitter.com/D6RgVgyL8G

— Sisters of Mercy (@mercyworldwide) May 12, 2020

Amid pandemic, nurses have given heroic example, pope says https://t.co/zue82tN1Da

— Catholic News Service (@CatholicNewsSvc) May 12, 2020

Music and Healing Comfort

A physician with a background in music had an insight. She enlisted the help of friends to present music from far distances to the physician’s patients and to her colleagues.

Isolationism Is Imaginary

Doctor Kevin Hargaden noted that “the clarity that [the pandemic] offers about our present vulnerability means there can be a positive political impact.” That result will be a matter of joint effort not that of individuals”—people, governments, classes—but “a politics that recognises common ground, draws on common sense, and builds for the common good.”

#COVID19 is a catastrophe and a window on to an unequal & unjust world, says Dr Kevin Hargaden of @JCFJustice https://t.co/axuPDGgDya @kevinhargaden

— Irish Jesuits (@jesuits_ireland) March 13, 2020

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Later: Poetry

The Other Contagion

Suffering can evoke love; great suffering, great love. In the third article in the “Living Beyond the Crisis”  series Jesuit Federico Lombardi notes, “In this time of great suffering some people know they are called by professional, religious or personal vocation to put their lives at risk for others.” One backdrop for his reflection was the suffering of 11 September 2001.

The third article in our series “Living Beyond the Crisis” which explores the example of doctors, nurses, priests, and those who give of themselves in service to the sick. #coronavirus https://t.co/SMZetn0aTO

— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) May 8, 2020

[Father Lombardi authored the first and second in the series]

“Striking Parallels”

Sadly, “women's contributions to health care have been consigned to the historical shadows due to their lower status, income inequality and constrained social roles.” Author Sharon T. Strocchia has written a detailed book about Renaissance women delivering health care. She lets “interesting historical figures…add color to the book's detailed research.”

It seems strange to assert that a book about Late Renaissance Italian women in health care is relevant to the present global crisis, but striking parallels are found throughout "Forgotten Healers: Women and the Pursuit of Health in Late Renaissance Italy." https://t.co/g8qqRc0UV0

— NCR (@NCRonline) May 6, 2020

“Greatest Cause for Concern”

North American Indigenous Peoples acted faster than other communities on the continent when faced with the novel coronavirus. The majority do not live on reservations, but those who do are older; they have underlying medical conditions; and supplies, including water, are in extremely short supply.

CSM Staff writers, Henry Gass and Sara Miller Llana report on the “‘incredible resilience and flexibility’” of Native populations, once again “‘being revisited by an old enemy,’”—infectious disease.

The coronavirus pandemic is threatening vulnerable Native American communities. Now, they are turning to resilience forged over generations. https://t.co/eqvXrzheuC

— The Christian Science Monitor (@csmonitor) April 30, 2020