‘PERSONAL DECISION’

Hillsong Founder Won’t Endorse Vaccine Even After Congregant Dies

Brian Houston called vaccination a “personal decision” in the wake of the death of a congregant who tweeted he would not get the jab.

Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston advised congregants Saturday that receiving a coronavirus vaccine is a “personal decision for each individual to make with the counsel of medical professionals” despite a death within his congregation this week. He said in a statement to CNN, “While many of our staff, leadership and congregation have already received the COVID-19 vaccine, we recognize this is a personal decision for each individual to make with the counsel of medical professionals.” Doctors and scientists across the world have encouraged patients to get inoculated.

Earlier in the week, congregant and Hillsong College graduate Stephen Harmon died after a monthlong bout of COVID. Both before and during his hospitalization, he had bragged on Twitter that he would not get the vaccine, writing “I got 99 problems but a vax ain’t one.” Houston mourned Harmon’s death on Instagram, calling him “one of the most generous people I know.” Vaccination rates in the U.S. are lagging and the more contagious Delta variant causes new outbreaks, particularly in the South.