Dr. Mayank Amin administers the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Helen Pepe, 94, at a clinic in Collegeville, Pa., March 7, 2021. (CNS photo/Hannah Beier, Reuters) Bishop Joseph Tyson’s message is clear and concise: “It is not a sin to get a vaccine.” The Diocese of Yakima serves the Catholic community in central Washington State, home to a large population of farmworkers from Mexico and Latin America. The area was hit hard in the early days of the pandemic; a priest from the diocese was the first in the United States to contract Covid-19. Bishop Tyson recalled the early days of the pandemic, when masks and hand sanitizer were sparse and illness seemed to threaten everyone. A year later, with a mass vaccination program expected to kick into high gear in the coming months, Bishop Tyson said vaccine hesitancy caused by misinformation about Catholic moral teaching could further threaten already vulnerable communities.