Catholic Bishops: Use of "licit" Vaccines

  AstraZeneca vaccine Photo: Jack Boland/Postmedia

"When ethically irreproachable COVID-19 vaccines are not available [e.g. in countries where vaccines without ethical problems are not made available to physicians and patients, or where their distribution is more difficult due to special storage and transport conditions, or when various types of vaccines are distributed in the same country but health authorities do not allow citizens to choose the vaccine with which to be inoculated] it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process."

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican

"Since there is currently no choice of vaccine being offered, Catholics in good conscience, may receive the vaccine that is available and offered to them."

"These questions [over a different line of human embryonic cells from a different fetal retina] are important for they concern the sacredness of human life and its inherent dignity."

"Catholics are invited to be vaccinated, both in keeping with the dictates of their conscience and in contributing to the common good by promoting the health and safety of others."

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops clarification bulletin

The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine was developed using a cell line derived from fetal human embryonic kidney cells. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

 

Methods involving a line of cells known as HEK293 ("human embryonic kidney") led to the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine at Oxford University. The cell line is in wide use universally in science, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, originally derived from a healthy female fetus around 1972. Frank Graham, Canadian pioneer of molecular virology was one of the scientists involved in the development of embryonic cells used as a technique in testing the behaviour of genes.

His involvement in the development of HEK293 took place initially in the Netherlands. Eventually he brought his ongoing research to McMaster University in Hamilton where he is professor emeritus. The cell line has been in wide use in the study of the expression of virus genes in vaccine research and development. The cell line itself has, since the original cells were obtained, divided countless times. 

In 2001 the leading scientist in the development of the cell line informed regulators in the U.S. that the reason or cause of an abortion which provided the fetus used was no longer available, records had been lost, but the assurance was that it had been a normal fetus, its family history unknown. The Catholic Church is concerned with the constituents of the virus since it is opposed to abortion even though there is no evidence available that the fetus had resulted from an elective abortion.

 

A woman receives communion during mass at the Mary Queen of the World Cathedral in Montreal, Que. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged parishioners to steer clear of viral vector vaccines like the one produced by AstraZeneca. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)

 

Johnson & Johnson's vaccine used the PER.C6 cell line, different, but still a line of human embryonic cells from another fetal retina. The knowledge that human fetal cells were used in the vaccine production prodded the Church to its advisories raising questions about the acceptability of the vaccines. When the original Vatican statement was circulated it caused confusion until the clarification followed.

The clarification was deemed necessary for the comfort of the faithful, following the confusing din over the original statement that Catholics should 'prefer' the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines because although "unethically-derived" cell lines may have been used in the final testing, the connection to abortion is "extremely remote"; say at a time-distance of a half-century and uncounted numbers of transformations over the years that followed.

AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines developed, produced and tested with cell lines originally from from human fetuses. Catholics were informed they should reject these vaccines as long as alternates were available, then reversed themselves in the following days to offer that Catholics may "licitly" receive any vaccine approved by Health Canada.

 

Nuns listen as Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican on June 7, 2020. Pope Francis is cautioning people in countries emerging from lockdown to keep following authorities’ rules for COVID-19 contagion containment. Says Francis: “Be careful, don’t cry victory, don’t cry victory too soon.”   Andrew Medichini / AP