It turns out that in addition to other reasons for not getting the covid-19 vaccine, some anti-abortion zealots are saying that since the vaccines may have been developed from stem cell lines from aborted fetuses, it would be unethical to get it.
The Catholic Church is trying to tamp down that line of reasoning and saying that the greater good requires people to get vaccinated because the link connecting the vaccines to abortion it highly tenuous.
The top Catholic bishops in the United States would really like Catholics to please just take the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Monday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a seven-page statement outlining the organization’s position on the “moral considerations” of three COVID-19 vaccines. Although abortion opponents have spent months advocating for a vaccine that is not in any way connected to fetal cells obtained through abortions—which are commonly used in drug development—the bishops wanted to make their ultimate position clear: Catholics have a moral obligation to take the vaccines, regardless of their potential links to abortion.
“Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine ought to be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community,” wrote Bishops Kevin Rhoades, of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana, and Joseph Naumann, of Kansas City in Kansas. “In this way, being vaccinated safely against COVID-19 should be considered an act of love of our neighbor and part of our moral responsibility for the common good.”
“While neither vaccine is completely free from any connection to morally compromised cell lines, in this case the connection is very remote from the initial evil of the abortion,” they wrote of the vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech as well as Moderna.
Let’s hope that this sways some people though I suspect that those opposed to vaccines do so for many unstated reasons and the Catholic Church’s endorsement of the vaccines will merely cause them to find a different reason to avoid getting vaccinated.
some anti-abortion zealots are saying that since the vaccines may have been developed from stem cell lines from aborted fetuses, it would be unethical to get it.
I believe that the stem cell-developed stuff are the antibody injections, like Remdesivir. The RNA-based vaccines are based on human-constructed RNA, I am pretty sure.
The anti-vaxxer zealots and anti-abortion nuts are a perfect natural alliance of rong.
In the case of the two leading ones in the USA, this is completely false!!!
The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech ones are mRNA vaccines. They have as much to do with aborted fetus cells as the car you drive around in.
They are mRNA’s, long polymers made in factories using biochemistry. Packaged in a mix of lipids, four different lipids for Moderna for delivery.
Two other leading vaccines, Novavax and Sanofi, are subunit vaccines made in insect cells. Insect cells also have nothing to do with aborted fetuses.
And here I am thinking that it can be perfectly ethical to use aborted fetuses for something useful. Modern cremation/burial industries cause so much environmental pollution that I would be happy to do almost anything else with dead human cells, organs, or bodies. Of course, the dead person or the formerly pregnant person should still consent to having their body/fetus/cells/organs used for some purpose, but, assuming they signed a consent form, doctors and scientists might as well do with these tissues whatever that is beneficial for humanity.
Good thing about being Catholic is that, even were it wrong, one could still get the vaccine and then go confess the sin and get absolution for it.
Practising Catholics are pragmatic.
You made me think about all the people I know who are Catholic; none of them are anti-choice or anti-vax. When you get into the lunatic fringe is when you get those types, just like all the Protestant fundagelicals and even some Atheists. Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett are off the deep end and don’t represent the average Catholic.
I agree with John Morales…at least in the USA (not sure about other places) Catholics are pragmatists. Birth control, politics, etc. are decided by the person, not whatever the old men in church say.
“It would help if everyone took as many precautions as possible until everyone is vaccinated. ”
That will take a while, because thanks to the egoism of the western countries there will be shortages in Latin-America and Africa for several months.
Unless you mean with “everyone” only “all Americans” of course (disclaimer: The Netherlands are just as egoistic and Canada seems to be the worst).