Comment
Questions of Faith Father Brice Higginbotham
Is it morally acceptable to receive a COVID-19 vaccine? I’ve heard that some of the vaccines are connected to abortion. Recently, someone reached out to me with moral questions about the COVID-19 vaccines which are coming out now and their connection to abortions by which a baby was murdered—one in 1973 and another in 1985. I hope that the thoughts and insights here will be helpful for your thinking through this issue. The National Catholic Bioethics Center writes that the hundreds of COVID-19 vaccines in development can, regarding their connection to abortion, “be divided into three groups based on a resource produced by the Charlotte Lozier Institute: 1. Those that do not use abortionderived cell lines in any phase of design, manufacture or testing 2. Those that do not use abortionderived cell lines in the manufacturing process but used an aborted fetal cell line at one point in development, such as confirmatory testing 3. Those that use abortion-derived cell lines in more than one phase of development and, in particular, the manufacturing process” (National Catholic Bioethics Center, “Points to Consider on the Use of COVID-19 Vaccines,” Dec. 8, 2020, https://static1.squarespace.com/ static/5e3ada1a6a2e8d6a131d1dcd/ t/5fd3ce39e679895094d d1e49/1607716409962/ NCBCVaccineStatementFINAL.pdf). Group 1: No Connection to Abortion Vaccines in the first group are the ones that we want to use. As of this writing (Jan. 3, 2021), there are vaccines currently in clinical trials
Are COVID-19 vaccines connected to abortion? which do not use abortion-derived cell lines in any phase. One of these morally acceptable vaccines (Bharat Biotech/Indian Council of Medical Research) was just today approved for use in India. It is unknown when a vaccine with no connection to abortion will be approved in the United States. Once these vaccines are available to us however, Catholics who desire a COVID-19 vaccine should get one of these (A chart provided by the Charlotte Lozier Institute gives a helpful analysis. COVID-19-VaccineCandidates-and-Abortion-DerivedCell-Lines.pdf (pcdn.co), accessed Jan. 2, 2021: https://s27589.pcdn.co/ wp-content/uploads/2020/12/COVID19-Vaccine-Candidates-and-AbortionDerived-Cell-Lines.pdf). A good Catholic who would otherwise vaccinate may, considering the risks, choose to refrain from taking a COVID-19 vaccine until one with no connection to abortion is available to him (As Joseph Meaney, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, writes: “There would be no real moral quandary if ethical and effective COVID vaccines with no connection to abortion existed. In that case, the moral choice would be clear: people who wish to be vaccinated must take the ethically produced vaccine. But our current situation presents the dilemma of
whether individuals should accept and use ethically problematic vaccines that are the only vaccines licensed for use at this time.” “Point: The Current COVID Vaccines Are Problematic But Permissible,” Catholic Answers Dec. 23, 2020, https://www.catholic. com/magazine/online-edition/ point-the-current-covid-vaccinesare-problematic-but-permissible, emphasis added). Group 2: Tested on Cells Connected to Abortion The first two vaccines distributed in the United States (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) fall into the second group. Neither of these vaccines were designed or produced with any connection at all to cells from aborted babies. Then, after each vaccine was developed, it was tested on cells from abortion-derived cell lines. Testing the vaccine on cells derived from an aborted baby was wrong. But that testing isn’t intrinsic to the vaccine itself. For example, U.S. army soldiers use M4 carbine guns. Those are put to good use in protecting the country and the world from wickedness. Someone might get an M4 and use it to murder other people. That would be an evil action, but would have no bearing on the gun. In fact, the U.S. army could even order an operation using the M4s which commanded something
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February 2021 • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux • Bayou Catholic • 13
