Page 20 - Vaccines

Vaccines and Catholic morality

people had questioned whether it could be right to use it,
since it had been developed from cell lines elaborated from
tissues from a foetus aborted in 1973. Invoking once more
the Pontifical texts mentioned, which judged morally
legitimate the use of immorally sourced vaccines for a
grave reason, the statement concluded that: “In the COV-
ID-19 pandemic, we judge that this grave reason exists
and that one does not sin by receiving the vaccine”. It
added that “both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna
vaccines have a different source since they are mRNA-
based vaccines”.1⁰
The United States Bishops’ Conference condemned
abortion, but said that the two vaccines approved in the
United States at that point, Pfizer and Moderna, could
be used legitimately, despite a “remote connection” to
aborted cells used in testing their effectiveness, adding
that the Astra-Zeneca vaccine was “more morally com-
promised” because it had been derived from a HEK293
cell line, taken from the kidney of an aborted foetus in
1973 and that this should be used only where the others
were not available;11 four Bishops from Colorado issued
a minority statement declaring that it was not morally
legitimate to use the Astra-Zeneca vaccine.12 They refer
to a chart from the Charlotte Lozier Institute comparing
various anti-Covid vaccines, in relation to “Operation
Warp Speed”, and their use or otherwise of cells from
aborted human foetuses, noting which vaccines to date

1⁰ ID. “Up-date on Covid-19 and Vaccination”, 3ʳᵈ December, 2020.
11 Cf. Chairmen of the Committee on Doctrine and of the Commit-
tee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States' Conference of
Catholic Bishops, “Statement on the new Covid-19 Vaccines”,
14ᵗʰ December, 2020.
12 Cf. A Letter to the faithful from the Colorado Bishops on Covid-19
vaccines, 14ᵗʰ December, 2020, www.denvercatholic.org, Arch-
diocese of Denver (accessed 8ᵗʰ February, 2021).

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