Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
History and Religion
Is the Church responsible for the surge in measles in Utah?

Is the Church responsible for the surge in measles in Utah?

Last updated on: August 11, 2026 at 5:29 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

Is the Church responsible for the surge in measles in Utah? 2026-08-11T17:29:24-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Council of the Twelve (1926-2004)
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I came across the following quotation from the late and much-missed Elder Neal A. Maxwell the other day. It expresses my own sentiments quite accurately:

All the scriptures, including the Book of Mormon, will remain in the realm of faith. Science will not be able to prove or disprove holy writ. However, enough plausible evidence will come forth to prevent scoffers from having a field day, but not enough to remove the requirement of faith. Believers must be patient during such unfolding.

Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Public domain photograph by Gage Skidmore.

I’ve shared the podium at least twice with Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, who is now the Republican nominee for Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District. I like him, and I would really like to see him win. It’s not merely that I myself am a political conservative. I confess that I look forward to the possibility of a politically conservative Muslim, a physician and a former officer in the United States Navy, serving in the House of Representatives alongside — and possibly on the same committees with — certain Republican members of Congress who have made sensationalistic anti-Islamic rhetoric an element of their public remarks. His presence might induce some helpful cognitive dissonance in some minds.

I’ll admit, though, that I deeply regret that one of the candidates for that same congressional seat, who had run as an independent, dropped out prior to the election. Why? Because she had a truly great name — a name that, frankly, had I come up with it for a character in a novel, I would certainly have rejected because it was, well, just too much. Her name is Andromeda Crum.

“Wendy and I were vaccinated today against COVID-19. We are thankful for the countless individuals who performed the work required to make this possible. We have prayed for this literal godsend. Receiving the vaccine is part of our personal efforts to be good global citizens.” (President Russell M. Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., sustained as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shown here on 19 January 2021). I hope that this counts as fair use.

I am not proud of this headline regarding my adopted home state: “Utah leads US in Measles cases due to low MMR vaccination rates.” However . . .

Some critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are seeking to weaponize the unfortunate surge in Utah measles cases as a weapon against the Church, and I deny their claim. They fault the Church and its leaders for supposedly not speaking out about vaccinations. The spread of measles in Utah is supposedly an instance of the evils caused by religion. But this accusation is ludicrous.

An article appeared in Salt Lake City’s Deseret News on 31 March 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which featured an image of Russell M. Nelson (1924-2025), M.D., Ph.D., the then-serving president (and prophet) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, receiving one of the anti-COVID vaccines. The article bore the following title: “Vaccinations ‘protect health and preserve life,’ Latter-day Saint handbook update says.” Permit me to share some excerpts from the article:

The latest update in the project to streamline the handbook of policies and instructions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reemphasizes the First Presidency’s long-standing support for vaccinations.

“Vaccinations administered by competent medical professionals protect health and preserve life,” the handbook says in a new section added Wednesday to the General Handbook. “Members of the Church are encouraged to safeguard themselves, their children, and their communities through vaccination.” . . .

The handbook statement on vaccinations is not a new policy. It reemphasizes consistent First Presidency direction since at least 1978, according to a news release.

The current First Presidency has modeled its position in recent weeks. The three members of the church’s leading body received COVID-19 vaccine shots on Jan. 19.

“We have prayed often for this literal godsend,” President Russell M. Nelson said in a message published that day on his Facebook and Instagram accounts after getting his shot at the Salt Lake County Health Department.

In a 15 July 2020 entry here on this blog, by the way, I reported that the head of Pfizer’s anti-COVID vaccine research was a Latter-day Saint — indeed, a member of one of the Quorums of the Seventy — and that he regarded the rapid development of the vaccine as a miracle: ““Area Seventy, Pfizer Head Of Anti-Viral, Has Good News On COVID-19,” Plus A Fascinating Near-Death Account.” Unfortunately, the article in which he shared his view on the matter was taken down very shortly thereafter, without explanation. But let’s return to that Deseret News article, which was talking about an update to the Church’s General Handbook:

The new section also states that prospective missionaries who are not vaccinated will likely serve assignments in their home country.

“Ultimately,” the new section in the Handbook says, “individuals are responsible to make their own decisions about vaccination. If members have concerns, they should counsel with competent medical professionals and also seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost.”

The church recently gave $20 million through Latter-day Saint Charities to support COVAX, a global campaign to provide 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines to people in low- and middle-income countries. Latter-day Saint Charities has supported vaccination campaigns for decades that have eliminated deadly diseases in countries around the world.

Latter-day Saint Charities was a partner in the vaccination project that eliminated polio in Africa last year, when the World Health Organization officially declared that continent free of the wild poliovirus. It is a partner in vaccinating to eradicate the virus in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the last two polio-endemic countries in the world.

Since 2003, the Church has partnered with organizations such as the American Red Cross, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Centers for Disease Control to fund and support international measles vaccination initiatives. (See here, for example.) Moreover, tens of thousands of Latter-day Saint volunteers have contributed hundreds of thousands of hours across dozens of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to help administer shots, run posts, and educate communities on the benefits of the measles vaccine.

To put it mildly, if some Utahns choose to reject vaccination against measles for themselves and their children it isn’t obvious to me that the Church should be blamed for their choice. If anything, the situation is quite to the contrary: In refusing vaccination, they are acting against the clear and consistent counsel (and practice) of the Church’s leaders.

A Latter-day Saint meetinghouse adjacent to the Bismarck North Dakota Temple, which is visible in the background. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image). The amount of sheer evil that emanates from building such as this one around the world is probably beyond human calculation.

Finally, as is my frequent custom, I share some desperately horrifying links that I’ve retrieved from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™:

History and Religion

Travel and Religion

Previous Post

August 10, 2026

More apologizing, eh?

Next Post

August 12, 2026 "He's a lover, not a train.'

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"DP: “But Mr. Sutherland worries about the fact that our time, when we can communicate ..."

Theodore Brandley

Learning more about a region of ..."

"Another class of memories are of individuals who previously lived. Some of these remembered individuals ..."

PlasmaMiasma

Accounts of Premortality?

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

"In a meeting today, I learned another important reason why accurate (or at least as ..."

the PROBLEM

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Abraham Peter Paul Joshua