Page 21 - Vaccines

The existence and the use of vaccines

had been derived from materials from aborted foetuses,
which had not been derived from them as such but had
used cells derived from such aborted foetuses in at least
some confirmatory testing, and other which had not used
any at any stage, as well as noting vaccines derived from
animals such as monkeys.13 They recognised subse-
quently that, where morally better alternatives were not
available, Astra-Zeneca could be used. The assessment
of the Pontifical Academy for Life and the teaching of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith lie behind the
advice of the American National Bioethics Center on this
subject, urging the use of vaccines devoid of morally
compromising origins (not actually available), then
noting that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would be
permissible in the absence of the former and in preference
to the Astra-Zeneca vaccine (in that the former had used
morally compromised cells in at least some confirmatory
testing, whereas the latter also had been derived as such
from cells from aborted human foetuses), which could
be used legitimately in the absence of the better alterna-
tives.1⁴ The more recently produced Johnson and Johnson
vaccine was derived from the cells of an aborted foetus
and would fall under be subject to the same evaluation
as the Astra-Zeneca vaccine.
On the other hand, a formal statement was released by
a number of Bishops in December, 2020, condemning the
use of the vaccines currently available against the corona-
virus because it is not enough for there to be a mere
geographical or temporal distance between an abortion

13 Cf. Charlotte Lozier Institute, “Operation Warp Speed” Chart,
last updated by them on 5ᵗʰ January, 2021.
1⁴ Cf. The (US) National Catholic Bioethics Center, Philadelphia,
Executive Summary Statement on Covid-19 Vaccines, 7ᵗʰ Decem-
ber, 2020.

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