The Human Cost of General Conference in 2022

Wesleyan Covenant Association's Vaccine Campaign Poses Great Risks

Special to United Methodist Insight

God continues to speak to us in different ways, and one way has been through the inspiration of the theme for GC 2020, now rescheduled to 2022. The theme is centered on part of Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God!” In this time of waiting, quite a lot has been revealed. Our patience and grace with one another has been tested as we wrestle with the thoughts of some desiring to leave the United Methodist denomination.

Dealing with the pandemic has not been easy. It has revealed deep inequalities among nations when it comes to questions of access to healthcare and also to what extent some are prepared to put a price tag on human life in pursuit of their desired course of action. As countries seek to protect their populations from COVID-19, many have established travel restrictions, including a vaccine mandate for travelers. This is one of the challenges that General Conference faces. How do you hold a General Conference in the United Statees with all delegates vaccinated when vaccine inequality among nations is so high and sometimes not taken seriously as an ethical issue? 

In the United States of America, many people already have access to coronavirus vaccinations; some are even getting boosters. However, in African countries vaccination is severely limited. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country of more than 80 million residents, only 340,509 persons have received at least one shot of a vaccine, and of that total, only 131,316 are fully vaccinated. The continued mutations of coronavirus and the different levels of efficacy of the vaccines add challenges to pre-existing disparities in healthcare access. In light of these realities, holding the General Conference in 2022 will have a human cost: the possibilities of infection (even among vaccinated delegates) and the unexpected consequences of such an outcome.

Recently the Wesleyan Covenant Association announced a decision along with their partners to fund a vaccination drive for General Conference delegates from outside the USA to facilitate meeting the U. S. vaccination requirement for travel in the hope that GC may be convened as planned. Though efforts to address vaccine inequalities are to be appreciated and encouraged, the approach poses some practical challenges that may lead to unexpected results that can be avoided.

The first challenge relates to the efficiency of the approach in addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Is the WCA support for vaccination intended to protect delegates or to meet the visa requirement for travel to the USA? If it is to protect the delegates, what about possible contamination to the family and neighbors? As delegates need to travel to vaccination sites, some will need to take flights and spend close to a month in hotels to get the two doses. There is, therefore, increased exposure, and in countries with limited access to quality healthcare, it is a significant risk to take. If delegates are vaccinated and travel to General Confereence, but on their way back test positive for COVID-19 and contaminate family and friends, have we helped to address the issue? If delegates alone get vaccinated, what about vulnerable populations they interact with daily?

If the vaccination drive is simply for the purpose of meeting the requirements for travel to the US, what is the price tag to the lives that will be at risk? Is even one life worth the mere $135,000 that the Wesleyan Covenant Association says it has already collected? The consequences of such a decision would take place prior to, during, and after General Conference and not all possible victims of such a decision could be traced.

The second challenge deals with the misinformation around vaccination. Given widespread myths around COVID-19 and vaccines that led to resistance to vaccination, funding to vaccinate select groups of people will be subjected to misinterpretations about the purpose of vaccines. People are bound to question the motivation to fund a vaccination drive for only select people and the liabilities that come with it. Though vaccination is voluntary and encouraged, an effort to convince people and manage the logistics of vaccination are better handled by health professionals and trusted institutions within countries encompassed by our central conferences rather than caucuses interested in pending legislation at General Conference. Already there is speculation about whether the true purpose of the WCA’s initiative is public health or church politics.

The third challenge is an ethical one. To what extent will we be prepared to trade human life, or serious threats such as COVID for the purpose of attaining desired outcomes? It helps to be reminded that there is no amount of money that can be equated to an individual’s life. Thus, considering hosting the General Conference in these conditions will be morally questionable as our privileges of access to quality healthcare can’t serve as an excuse to expose the less fortunate to the possibility of contamination and death. I believe a good alternative to the current vaccination drive for General Conference delegates will be to organize and add voices to those calling for an end to vaccine inequality and the profiteering of the pharmaceutical industry.

These challenges also point us to the festering scourge of racism and colonialism. A vast majority of our central conference delegates are persons of color from countries that continue to experience the harm of colonialism. Subjecting them to the risks enumerated above sends a message that their lives are expendable in order to satisfy the desire of some to convene General Conference despite obvious public health risks. Has there been an effort to include leaders of our central conferences in planning this initiative? Imposing selective vaccination may also create conflict between delegates and their own families, tribes, conferences, and local churches.

Though we would like to see events unfold quickly, a reality check provided by this pandemic can help us learn ways of putting our faith into action: to grow in patience, love, and grace with those we have heated debates and disagreements with until a time when it will be safe for General Confeerence to convene without being a public health threat. Until then, “Be still and Know that I am God.”

Albert Otshudi Longe is a Congolese United Methodist serving as a chaplain in the Great Plains Annual Conference. The Rev. Lloyd Nyarota is a clergy member of the Zimbabwe East Annual Conference and the Rev. Kennedy Mwita is a clergy member of the Kenya/Ethiopia Annual Conference.

Also contributing to this article were Rev. Dr. Israel Alvaran, Philippines Conference; Deaconess Olive Beltran, North Central Philippines Conference; Rev. Dr. Leo Kabwita, South Congo Conference; Karen Prudente, New York Conference; Rev. Jonathan Ulanday, East Mindanao Philippines Conference