One of the curious arguments for not receiving the COVID vaccine is that no government should tell a person what they can or cannot do with their body. In fact, there are a range of things for which the government and the common good, do just exactly that. Think of the regulations regarding seat belts, smoking in public places, drug usage, and others. Directly and indirectly, for each of these a governmental body tells a person what they can or cannot do with their bodies. In the arena of school attendance (from pre-school through university) governmental authorities can establish the consequences for failing to adhere to the requirements for vaccinations. Something that has been true for highly communicable diseases in our lifetime: polio, smallpox, hepatitis, mumps, measles, rubella, and more. The “no government…” argument does not stand-up to the scrutiny of established practices, procedures or enacted laws and regulations.
Even more curious is the chorus, “no government can tell a person what they can or cannot do with their bodies” is the argumentative basis of those who support abortion rights and defend the pro-choice arguments defending a woman’s right to an abortion. The chorus ends up with the position that it is up to the woman to decide whether or not she will have an abortion. The Church and the anti-abortion movement are correct in pointing out that such a decision is morally wrong, as it involves taking a life. The argument leading to the morally wrong choice is fallacious at its beginning. Scripture is clear that we are subject to civil government and we are always to strive for the common good.
There are some people within the Church who, while they are clearly anti-abortion (as we are all called to be), have take the position to not take the COVID-19 vaccine because the government can’t tell them what to do with their bodies. The fallacious argument has led them to moral error and moved them outside the realm of being pro-life as they use the essential argument of the pro-choice contingent. In not receiving the vaccine and encouraging others not to do so, they are participating in a morally wrong process that is allowing a pandemic to continue and deepen – and is leading to the loss of innocent life. Perhaps not their life, but the life of another.
If that is the basis for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, it seems to me to be a serious, even fatal contradiction. It is certainly not pro-life.