Page 11 - Vaccines

Preface

could give people the impression that what is gravely and
intrinsically immoral may be legitimate.
Questions such as this cannot be left to mere senti-
ment; it is not enough to sanction the use of (some)
vaccines because it “feels right”, because we “feel sorry
for” those afflicted actually or potentially. Emotive
appeals to solidarity are likewise inadequate. The ques-
tions of conscience involved here need more careful
attention and merit a clearer and fuller response, one
which takes into full account authentic Catholic doctrine
on life, killing, medical treatment, including the require-
ments of justice, but which addresses the complexities of
these questions also with the help of those principles and
norms of Catholic moral doctrine and theology, which
have been elaborated in the light of the Gospel of Christ.
These have been capable of guiding conscience in the
past and they remain capable of this today, also in the
current crisis. Thus, serious and sustained efforts to
produce vaccines from morally unexceptionable sources
should be promoted and/or supported by the Catholic
Church, both in relation to the present pandemic and
systematically in the future.
In the meantime, under the stringent conditions
explained in these pages, it is argued that it is not
immoral for a person to be vaccinated with an existing
vaccine, even where it is compromised in its origin,
because it exists, because its mode of action or operation
in the person is neither lethal nor damaging, but is
positive in the sense of providing prevention and protec-
tion, because the need for these legitimate benefits is real
and urgent, both for the individual and for society more
generally in the current situation. What is offered in this
brief assessment avoids scandalous compromises with
what is of its nature immoral, and, I believe, may be

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