Bodily autonomy in a Covid vaccine world

My body, society’s choice?

It was just before Christmas that the Archbishop of Canterbury told us to ‘Love thy Neighbour’ and that a good way to do so was to ‘get vaccinated, get boosted.’ According to the Right Rev Justin Welby to get jabbed was to follow the example of Jesus.

 ‘It’s not about me and my right to choose, it’s about how I love my neighbour.’

Setting aside that nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus declare, ‘Verily I say unto you, go and get thy Covid jab,’ this is a striking stance on bodily automny by the leader of England’s official religion. Essentially he was instructing the faithful to submit their body to the needs of the wider community. Some might argue that this is indeed in step with the Christian message of self sacrifice. However my C of E vicar Mum, (a wise woman rather than a Nativity wise man!), helped me see that it’s more complex. She reminded me that the Archbishop had overlooked half of Jesus’ famous command. The addition of ‘as thyself’ to ‘Love thy neighbour’ is vital. Jesus doesn’t say ‘Love thy neighbour more than thyself,’, which he could easily have done. Instead it is very clear in his command that a love of oneself is also expected and valued by God.

  Christianity, many other religions and schools of philosophical thought have set themselves against what they regard as narcissistic popular culture. For a long time the ‘me, me, me’ attitude in much of secular society was encapsulated in the famous L’Oreal advert slogan ‘because I’m worth it.’ When those words were first used in 1971, to encourage a pampering haircare purchase, the brains behind them couldn’t have imagined the undeniable explosion of self obsession in the following decades. This has of course been fuelled by the grip of social media on our lives. The problem of people becoming obsessed by checking their ‘likes’, ‘shares/retweets’  and ‘comments’ has been widely discussed. Likewise, the ‘selfie generation’ is a well worn cliché. But a recent addition to the self obsession has paradoxically become giving the appearance of being selfless. This manifests itself as standing up for other people’s rights, taking offence on other’s behalf and ostentatiously displaying symbols or performing gestures for certain causes. These can naturally be genuinely virtuous but the risk lies in the virtue being shallow and merely performative. Jesus himself railed against this in the form of the Pharisees, who loved a good bit of virtue signalling!

   What concerns me deeply is that healthcare has been drawn into this performative display of moral superiority. ‘I take the vaccine because I care so much about protecting others that I’m dismissing any risk to my self.’ I’m sure that Archbishop Welby’s call to selflessness was sincere, but he nevertheless tapped into the virtue signalling culture. Furthermore, he disregarded the virtue of loving oneself, not in a L’Oreal or Insta obsessive way, but in the way of Holy Scripture.

‘For no one has ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, as the Messiah does the church’, Ephesians 5:29.

Christians should believe that our bodies are truly precious ‘temples of the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 6:9).  However we are being asked to sideline our personal health concerns and bow to the opinions of others in society.

  Of course there are plenty of voices insisting that taking the Covid vaccine IS in every person’s own best interest. But then we arrive at the assumption that others can and should sometimes determine what is in the best health interest of others. The reasons for refusing any medical treatment are many and varied. They can be for physical or mental health reasons or indeed for reasons of personal preference. It is the individual’s body, mind and soul that has to endure the consequences. My own experience has sadly and traumatically shown me that. In 2016 I was forced into an eating disorder clinic, against my and my family’s anguished pleas, under threat of being sectioned. On paper this was ‘a voluntary admission.’ However for over six months I had no bodily autonomy, from being watched on the toilet, to having to take certain medication and being tube fed despite extreme physical and mental distress. It was only when I finally managed to discharge myself that some medical professionals admitted it had been a mistake. I had been given grossly inappropriate treatment that had not only failed to tackle my serious mental illness but had also caused huge additional damage. This type of ‘being sectioned without being sectioned’ is actually happening all the time and far too frequently in the NHS. But that’s what is now being proposed not just by members of society but members of the Government in relation to Covid vaccination. Just one good example is MP Tobias Ellwood declaring on Talk Radio that if people ‘voluntarily’ get the jabs the Government won’t need to mandate them. Have this medical treatment/take this medication/stay in this clinic ‘voluntarily’ and then we won’t have to force you! Some may be shocked by this comparison but it isn’t dissimilar from ‘agree to sleep with me and you won’t lose your job/you’ll get that promotion or a good essay mark.’ I may have a mental illness but to maintain that this is anything other than tyranny is true delusional madness. Perhaps we are indeed suffering from some type of mass psychosis or hypnosis.

  But doesn’t everyone in the UK still have a choice about whether to get vaccinated or not? Forcing someone to have a medical treatment doesn’t always mean holding them down. All that needs to happen is for the ‘consequences’ to be unbearable for the individual. For me this was the consequence of not being able to travel to Germany to see my Grandma without quarantine, be unable to enter her care home and unable to function as a normal human in German society. This is of course not the UK Government’s responsibility, but there has not been one word of condemnation of the medical apartheid spreading across Europe from our Government. For others it is the loss of a job, a career, a lifetime of work, a means of feeding themselves and their family. I’m thinking particularly of those working in the NHS and social care. That is very much the UK Government’s responsibility. But no physical restraint is required so the mirage of a liberal, moral democracy is maintained.

‘The collective good’, ‘for your safety’, echo in history as the foundations of and justification for every evil authoritarian regime.

  In 2005 UNESCO adopted the full text of what is called ‘The Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights.’ It is worth quoting significant chunks.

‘Resolving that it is necessary and timely for the international community to state universal principles that will provide a foundation for humanity’s response to the ever-increasing dilemmas and controversies that science and technology present for humankind and for the environment’

‘Article 3 – Human dignity and human rights

1. Human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms are to be fully respected.

2. The interests and welfare of the individual should have priority over the sole interest of science or society.’

‘Article 6 – Consent

1. Any preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic medical intervention is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information. The consent should, where appropriate, be express and may be withdrawn by the person concerned at any time and for any reason without disadvantage or prejudice.’ (Italics mine)

  It is ironic and profoundly sad that the Archbishop of Canterbury didn’t capture the true meaning of one of God’s principal commandments in the same way that this secular UNESCO Declaration does. It is also frightening that many countries of the world appear to have forgotten they signed up to its fundamental principals.

‘We like sheep have gone astray . . .’