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Dec 24, 2020
Interesting Psak: CoronaVirus vaccinations on Shabbos
A number of hospital rabbis have asked Rav Shlomo Amar, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, regarding getting vaccinations on Shabbos. It seems the medical clinics are preparing to also provide the vaccinations on Shabbos, using pikuach nefesh as justification. The hospital rabbis and some doctors are unsure about this and sent the question to Rav Amar.
Rav Amar responded rejecting the claim of pikuach nefesh. Rav Amar says that if giving the vaccination is pikuach nefesh, they should be vaccinating 24 hours a day. The fact that they are not shows that pikuach nefesh isn't behind this.
Rav Amar concluded and paskened that upon consultation with medical professionals he has decided that it is prohibited to get the vaccination on Shabbos.
Rav Amar suggested that on Shabbos they use non-Jewish doctors/nurses to vaccinate non-Jews.
The Eida Hachareidis has received similar question and similarly paskened that vaccinating on Shabbos is not allowed. The beis din of the Eida added that people should protest against their kupot that are planning to vaccinate on Shabbos.
source: Kikar
The government, the Ministry of Health, has already discussed the possibility of speeding up the vaccination effort by working around the clock. I wonder if they do decide to do that if the psak of Rav Amar will change.
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What a disgustingly stupid excuse to vaccinate on Shabbat (in EY) for a vaccine which is so controversial, as it has ingredients which have never been used before in a vaccine and will change the DNA of the person and has a negative effect on women because it might sterilize the women and just read where they are talking about the effects on the men as well. This DNA change will affect generations to come and is a matter, especially as Jews, to be extremely wary of. The Rabbis have the obligation to forewarn the Jews to not take such a vaccine that has never been tested and used. All previous vaccines had a five to ten year trial testing before being given to the public! What is wrong with humanity today where no one gets informed and trusts anyone about the most important thing, the health and safety of themselves and their loved ones. Think and learn before you take such a risk. H' yerachem!
ReplyDeleteWarning: The above comment features conspiracy theories and unverified claims about vaccinations.
Deletethe vaccine does not change the dna of the person. it changes or modifies rna (not dna) the same way the virus does.
Deletethe virus is not controversial. it is only controversial to the same people every vaccine is controversial to.
Even if Anonymous' claims were true, it doesn't matter. Whether or not the vaccine should be given at all is one question. Once the medical consensus is that it should be given, that's what we use to determine whether or not one can be מחלל שבת to administer it. Halacha defers to doctors to make medical decisions. Once those decisions are made, a psak does not include an analysis of those decisions, but takes a black box approach to them.
DeleteWhat is the melacha associated with giving a vaccine?
ReplyDeleteAre we dealing with the derabanan that many are meikil on of רפואה? Is it חבלה? What is the issue in the first place?
I would assume it is an issue of refuah (shchikat sammemanim) and chabala
DeleteBesides the actual injection, there's going to need all kinds of additional issurim if it's to be a concern. All kinds of writing, documentation, patient verifications etc.
DeleteRav Lau (who is in favour of vaccinations as quickly as possible, and was publicly vaccinated this week) said something similar, that as long as they are not vaccinating around the clock, they shoudl not be vaccinating on Shabbat.
ReplyDeleteThere is talk now about brining in the army and vaccinating 24/7, will be interesting to see if Rav Lau and Amar change their ruling accordingly.
Still - sounds weird that it's hard to pinpoint the actual issur (and the writing can certainly be done by a goy or through Tzomet's writing methods), and yet the question as presented is pikuach nefesh vs. shabbat. Really, it's a question of public health vs. some sort of maybe derabanan or minhag, which seems to be a more complicated question, and should be based on matters of public policy, rather than whether it's really pikuach nefesh or not (and if it was, they would be vaccinating 24 hours a day).
ReplyDeleteI am not sure about the pikuach nefesh issue anyway. the vaccine is to prevent someone from getting sick. does that get the status of pikuach nefesh? I dont know. if someone was sick in a life threatening situation, it is pikuach nefesj and can be treated to heal him or her. but to prevent a possible infection? not so sure.
DeleteFor sure - and if it was a מלאכה דאורייתא, that would be the correct calculation - it's not a real פיקוח נפש and therefore does not outweigh the חילול שבת.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if there is no real איסור, or if the איסור is on a lower level, then other calculations come into play that are not simply - is this a case of true פיקוח נפש or not. For public health, we would certainly be willing to do, for example, אמירה לנכרי. Therefore, it is important to understand what the potential איסור is, in order to calculate whether it should be permitted or not.
I'm sure this was done in the background, but the way that it was presented (it's not פיקוח נפש and therefore is not permitted) seems lazy and incorrect.
Agreed. Framing a דרבנן as a דאורייתא.
Delete