NEW YORK— Of the more than 120 families who attend Brazilian Missionary Church in the Long Island City neighborhood in Queens, about half are vaccinated against COVID-19. The other half remain skeptical about the effectiveness of the vaccines. About half wear masks during in-person services, while half do not. 

The church has allowed masks to be optional since Feb. 9. The state government has updated the mandate that bars and indoor places, including churches, do not need to require proof of vaccination. 

“One of the things I say is, we are in a country that needs to walk according to the laws,” said Paulo Marciano, 66, one of the church’s founding pastors. He commonly reminds his church members not to judge one another for their choices in the pandemic. “It is common sense that will guide us. And even so, (among the vaccinated and the unvaccinated) is anyone perfect?”

While in Brazil, about 80% of the population is fully vaccinated today, only about 64% of people in the U.S. are vaccinated. 

Brazilian Missionary Church has managed to transcend political polarization and unite its members over a common mission: making the church a home of peace. In its 34 years of existence, the church has not attached itself to any one denomination, welcoming members from Baptist, Presbyterian, evangelical, Catholic, and other backgrounds. 

“We have a mission that is missionary, to all denominations,” Marciano told ReligionUnplugged.com at the church’s headquarters in Long Island City. “I don’t want to defend a denomination — I just want to talk about God. Jesus and the disciples did not teach religion. This was something that man created and generated a division.”

After the service, despite not sharing in a traditional lunch with families in the church that used to take place before the pandemic, many church members — both masked and unmasked — spend hours there chatting or even sharing the commute to continue their conversations that began in the church.

Understanding the reasons and consequences

Overall infections have continued to decline since rising in January, and U.S. health experts — including top U.S. infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci — say we are unlikely to see another major wave of infections. However, those who remain unvaccinated face higher risks of infection and hospitalization from COVID-19 and its variants. 

“It’s important to first listen,”Marciano said. “We have a lot of people who didn’t want to be vaccinated, and I respect that, but I speak up.”

The reasons given among the U.S. adult population for not vaccinating range from lack of confidence in the vaccine to fear of side effects and distrust of government, according to a December report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This same survey also shows a drop in this rejection, which has also been called a “pandemic among the unvaccinated” in the United States. At this point, the majority of the country’s adult population, about 85%, has taken at least one dose, and 15% have said they will remain unvaccinated. 

In Brazil, up til February this year, 152 million people have been vaccinated, according to the Our World in Data survey. At the center of this debate, mandatory immunization is still criticized by some sectors of society.

In September 2021, the Rev. Cleiton Collins, Brazilian congressman, came out against the need to present proof of vaccination for churches. Minister Damares Alves — of Women, Family and Human Rights — published a technical note against the mandatory vaccination of children and the use of a complaint hotline for parents who are questioned about the immunization of their children.

Faith-based organizations — such as Evangelicals for Gender Equality, which is part of the Women’s Rights Council and works with the federal government — said in a statement that they repudiate the “misuse of the function of Dial 100, authorized by the Ministry of Women, Family, and Human Rights as a channel available to anti-vaccine people who believe they have suffered ‘discrimination.’” Originally, this channel was used to collect reports of human rights violations.  

‘It’s not easy to see people dying’

For Waldineia Silva, a native of Rio de Janeiro and resident of the U.S. for more than 25 years, two events marked this pandemic phase: catching COVID-19 and losing a close friend to the virus. “It is not easy to see people dying,” she said. “It will be a year since a friend of mine lost her husband to COVID. She became a widow — she had been married for 15 years.”

The spiritual support from the church made her feel reassured about the vaccine for her and her family.

“I see God's hand, his care in these two years of the pandemic,” Silva said. “I deal with people who are very focused on not taking the vaccine, are very resistant — and with justifications that they find plausible — so I respect (them) because only the Holy Spirit will give understanding … as a Christian. Depending on what you say, you can provoke anger (or) a discussion.”

Camila da Silva is an intern for Religion Unplugged, Brazilian reporter and the 2022 Arne Fjeldstad scholar at the John McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute at The King’s College in New York. You can find her on Instagram @silva.jornalismo.