COVID-19 vaccines received emergency authorization from various governments and have started being administered this month around the world.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, proven 95 percent effective at preventing symptomatic cases of the virus in an over 40,000 participant trial, was approved by government officials in the United Kingdom on Dec. 2nd, becoming the first COVID-19 vaccine that had undergone large-scale clinical trials to be certified for nation-wide use. Health care workers, nursing home employees and residents, as well as individuals over 50 will be prioritized for “Phase 1” for the country’s vaccine rollout.
During the lab testing or development of this vaccine, cell lines were used which were procured from abortions several decades ago. All current vaccine candidates have some connection to aborted cell lines, including the Moderna vaccine and the soon-to-be certified AstraZeneca vaccine. No COVID-19 vaccine is created using cells from abortions. In light of this, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales released a statement to the Catholic faithful regarding approaching these vaccines.
“The development of a vaccine against COVID-19 presents an important breakthrough in protecting others as well as oneself from the virus… At present, debate concerns the use of the vaccines developed by Pfizer & BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca. Some have questioned the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine since it has been developed from cell-lines originating from the cells of an aborted foetus in 1983,” Bishop Richard Moth, chair of the conference’s Department of Social Justice, wrote to British Catholics. “The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Academy of Life have expressed the view that one may in good conscience and for a grave reason receive a vaccine sourced in this way, provided that there is a sufficient moral distance between the present administration of the vaccine and the original wrongful action. In the COVID-19 pandemic, we judge that this grave reason exists and that one does not sin by receiving the vaccine.”
In America, the Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 11 as well as the Moderna vaccine on Dec. 18. Nearly three million of the 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine purchased by the Trump administration in July were sent across the country last week, while 200 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have already been purchased with six million of these ready to be distributed in the coming weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended to state governments that America’s 21 million healthcare workers and three million elderly people residing in nursing homes should be prioritized.
On Dec. 14, with American Catholics citing similar concerns expressed in the United Kingdom about the various vaccine’s involvement of aborted babies, Bishop Kevin Rhoades, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine and Archbishop Koseph Naumann, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued a statement.
The American Bishops quoted St. Pope John Paul II’s “Evangelium Vitae” Encyclical and referred to teachings from relevant documents from the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which “emphasize the positive moral obligation to do good and in so doing to distance oneself as much as possible from the immoral act of another party such as abortion in order to avoid cooperation with someone else’s evil actions and to avoid giving scandal, which could happen if one’s own actions were perceived by other people to ignore or to minimize the evil of the action… The Holy See points out that there are different degrees of responsibility in cooperating with the evil actions of others.”
With the lack of available alternative vaccines with “absolutely no connection to abortion,” the risks the virus poses to public health and vulnerable populations, the Bishops stated that usage of the current vaccines are morally justifiable, though the AstraZeneca vaccine should be avoided if others are available. The Bishops reiterated their and the Church’s commitment to defending unborn persons.
“While having ourselves and our families immunized against COVID-19 with the new vaccines is morally permissible and can be an act of self-love and of charity toward others, we must not allow the gravely immoral nature of abortion to be obscured… we should be on guard so that the new COVID-19 vaccines do not desensitize us or weaken our determination to oppose the evil of abortion itself and the subsequent use of fetal cells in research.”
The European Union is set to start vaccinations on Dec. 27 while Russia and China will continue to encourage their citizens to become inoculated with their own vaccines, which, though not undergoing large-scale trials, have been approved and administered since the summer.
Pope Francis, in his message for the Church’s 54th World Day of Peace to be celebrated on Jan. 1, 2021 that is typically sent to government and non-Catholic ecumenical leaders, addressed the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and distribution of the vaccines.
“I renew my appeal to political leaders and the private sector to spare no effort to ensure access to Covid-19 vaccines and to the essential technologies needed to care for the sick, the poor and those who are most vulnerable,” the pope said. “At a time like this, when the barque of humanity, tossed by the storm of the current crisis, struggles to advance towards a calmer and more serene horizon… As Christians, we should always look to Our Lady, Star of the Sea and Mother of Hope.”
Featured image courtesy of Wyoming Public Radio.
Max Montana is a senior studying philosophy and theology. When not writing for The Torch, he enjoys reading more about the Catholic faith and philosophy, serving the unborn and mothers in need, and hanging out with friends. Max is honored to hail from the state with many gators and the bishop of the moon: Florida.
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