U.S. Catholic Bishops' Statement on Covid Vaccines
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December 22, 2020Dear parishioners,
Multiple Covid-19 vaccines will soon be available, and there have been questions about their morality because of their connection to aborted fetuses.
It’s important to know many vaccines are produced using stem-cell lines from an aborted female baby in the Netherlands in 1972.
The U.S. Bishops released a statement this week that explains the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna did not use these cells in their design, development, or production, but did use them in a confirmatory test. The vaccine from AstraZeneca did use these cells in its design, development, and production, and confirmatory testing.
The vaccine from AstraZeneca should thus be avoided if there are alternatives available. The vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, while not completely free from connection to compromised cell lines, are morally acceptable to receive, since the connection is very remote from the initial evil of abortion. Where there is no alternative without lengthy delay, it is permissible to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, in view of the gravity of the pandemic and the serious risk to public health.
Being vaccinated safely against Covid-19 should be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community, and part of our moral responsibility for the common good. A person who refuses to be vaccinated, said the bishops, has “a moral responsibility to undertake all the precautions necessary to ensure that one does not become a carrier of the disease to others, which may include some form of self-isolation.”
While the vaccines are permissible to receive despite their moral flaws, the bishops note that it’s imperative for Catholics “to be on guard so that the new vaccines do not desensitize or weaken our determination to oppose the evil of abortion itself and the subsequent use of fetal cells in research. We must continue to do what we can to ensure the development, production, and distribution of a vaccine without any connection to abortion."
The Catholic Bishops of Michigan also released a brief joint statement about the vaccines which you can read by clicking here.
I hope this is helpful for you!
Peace,
Father Ryan
