CTCR provides updated vaccine fact sheet

Dr. Michael Brown, assistant dean of Pharmacy at Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW), Mequon, Wis., gives a firefighter his first coronavirus vaccination. The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations recently updated its previously released vaccine fact sheet. (Photo courtesy of CUW)

In January, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR), in collaboration with the LCMS Office of National Mission’s Life Ministry, drafted a COVID-19 vaccine “fact sheet” for Synodwide sharing. Titled “The LCMS and COVID-19 Vaccines: Facts and Considerations,” the document was intended to provide helpful facts and counsel for those attempting to sort through the currently available information about COVID-19 vaccines.

As additional vaccines continue to be released and more questions are asked, the CTCR has updated the vaccine fact sheet with the following statement:

“Since the Synod published the following January 2021 fact sheet addressing the currently available COVID-19 vaccines, more vaccines have been and will continue to be approved. Given the pace with which these vaccines are developed and produced, however, we do not consider it advisable to detail each and every vaccine made available. The science is too technical to insure we treat them all adequately. As we noted in the original document, however, we encourage our members to inform themselves using the best pro-life resources at their disposal. We in particular direct them to consult the principal source we used in drafting our statement: the pro-life scientists of the Charlotte Lozier Institute. You can find their discussion of the COVID-19 vaccines here: lozierinstitute.org/update-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-and-abortion-derived-cell-lines.”

For more information, read:

The updated vaccine fact sheet.

The Synod president’s Jan. 21 letter providing pastoral counsel on the COVID-19 vaccines.

A Jan. 22 Reporter story on the vaccines.

Posted March 8, 2021