From Crux:
Israel’s top religious leaders joined President Isaac Herzog in calling for more people around the world to be vaccinated, saying that the approved vaccines are safe and effective tools in fighting COVID-19.
In a joint statement published Thursday, Herzog and representatives from all of Israel’s major religions, including the Catholic Church, said, “Together with prayers to the Almighty, we call on everyone to be vaccinated as soon as possible.”
“The licensed vaccines that have been approved by the most important professional regulatory bodies in the world are highly effective and safe, proven by the notable number of over 3 billion vaccinated people worldwide, and have led to a drastic reduction of COVID-19 infections,” they said.
Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Druze and Baháʼí leaders – including Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Greek Catholic Archbishop Yousef Matta of Acre, Haifa, Nazareth and Galilee – were invited to the president’s residence in Jerusalem to discuss the status of the coronavirus and to encourage faithful in their various traditions to get vaccinated.
In their statement, the leaders argued that “the sanctity of life is a supreme value for religions and the saving of the life of any human being – all created in the image of God – is the greatest religious obligation of all.”
