“Morally acceptable vaccines with cells from aborted fetuses”

Published on: 12/21/2020 1:58 PM

IS “morally acceptable” is the use of vaccines obtained from cells of aborted fetuses if there is no other possibility. Endorsement is not a green light for abortion, as human lives are at stake. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith underlines this in a note that obtained the approval of the Pope.

“When ethically safe vaccines against Covid-19 are not available (For example in countries where vaccines without ethical problems are not made available to doctors and patients, or where their distribution is more difficult due to particular storage and transport conditions, or when several types of vaccines are distributed in the same Country but , on the part of the health authorities, citizens cannot choose the vaccine to be inoculated) – writes the old Holy Office – it is morally acceptable to use anti-Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their process of research and production “.

The Vatican’s clarification on the issue of the use of vaccines, as the dicastery writes, “is often at the center of persistent debates in public opinion. In recent months, this Congregation has received several requests for opinion on the use of some vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, developed using, in the research and production process, cell lines that come from tissues obtained from two abortions in the last century. At the same time, different pronouncements have been made in the media of bishops, Catholic associations and experts, diversified and sometimes contradictory, which have also raised doubts about the morality of the use of these vaccines ”.

“Given that the first vaccines against Covid-19 are already available for distribution in various countries and their administration, this Congregation – read the note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – wants to offer some indications of clarification in Not intended judge the safety and efficacy of these vaccines, although ethically relevant and necessary, whose evaluation is the responsibility of biomedical researchers and pharmaceutical agencies, but only to reflect on the moral aspect of the use of those vaccines against Covid-19 that were developed with cell lines of tissues obtained from two non-spontaneously aborted fetuses “.

“The fundamental reason to consider the use of these vaccines morally lawful is that the type of cooperation in evil (passive material cooperation) of induced abortion from which the same cell lines come, by those who use the resulting vaccines, The moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation – the records of the Congregation – is not binding if there is a serious danger, such as the spread, otherwise irrepressible, of a serious pathogen: in this case, the pandemic spread of the SARS virus -CoV- 2 that causes Covid-19 “.

“It is therefore to be believed – he continues – that In this case, all vaccines recognized as clinically safe and effective can be used with the assurance that the use of such vaccines does not signify formal cooperation in abortion. from which the cells with which the vaccines were produced are derived. However, it should be noted that the morally lawful use of this type of vaccine, due to the particular conditions that make it so, cannot in itself constitute a legitimation, not even an indirect one, of the practice of abortion, and presupposes opposition to it. practice from those who use it. “

At the same time, the old Holy Office notes, “it is evident from practical reason that vaccination is not, as a general rule, a moral obligation and therefore must be voluntary.From an ethical point of view, the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect health, but also on the pursuit of the common good.is. Well, in the absence of other means to stop or even simply prevent the epidemic, vaccination can be recommended, especially to protect the weakest and most exposed.

“Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, You must make every effort – he warns – to avoid, with other prophylactic means and appropriate behaviors, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent.. In particular, they must avoid any risk to the health of those who cannot be vaccinated for clinical or other reasons and who are the most vulnerable people ”.

Finally, recalls the note, “there is also a moral imperative for the pharmaceutical industry, for governments and international organizations, to Ensure that vaccines, effective and safe from a health point of view, as well as ethically acceptable, are accessible even to the poorest countries. and in a way that is not onerous for them. The lack of access to vaccines, otherwise, would become another reason for discrimination and injustice that condemns poor countries to continue living in sanitary, economic and social poverty ”.