Canadian Physicians Push for Ethical Vaccines

December 7, 2006 – Ottawa Sun

Moral shot in arm – Docs push for ‘ethical’ alternative to vaccine developed with aborted fetuses

By HOLLY LAKE, OTTAWA SUN

Parents should not have to give their children vaccines developed using tissue from aborted fetuses, says a group of concerned doctors. Canadian Physicians for Life say parents in this country currently have no choice. While several vaccines fall into this category, they’re taking issue with Pentacel.

Made by Sanofi Pasteur, Pentacel protects against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), polio and haemophilus B. Since 1997, it’s been used as the primary immunization and 18-month booster for children. Dr. Rene Leiva, an Ottawa family doctor and CPL member, says the problem is that the vaccine has been developed using human cell lines taken from abortions conducted in the 1960s.

Leiva started looking into Pentacel after parents refused to vaccinate their child with it.

“They said it would violate their moral conscience.”

COMMON PRACTICE

In an e-mail response to the Sun, a Ministry of Health spokesman said most publicly funded vaccines are manufactured using human cell lines derived from aborted tissue. The MRC-5 cell line used in Pentacel was developed in 1966 from a single aborted fetus, but the cell lines reproduce themselves and can be maintained indefinitely. The moral dilemma arises among those who view the use of abortion-derived vaccines as a form of co-operation with what they feel is an immoral act, but are also aware of the dire health consequences of failing to immunize.

“I don’t want parents refusing vaccines because of this,” Leiva says. “I want options. And there are options.”

Leiva notes there is a vaccine called Pediacel that also protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and haemophilus B, but does not contain abortion-derived fetal cell lines. Approved for use in Canada in 2000, Pediacel has not been marketed. It’s widely used in Britain, but here only Pentacel is publicly funded.

TAKE AWAY THE RISK

“We would love the government to provide an ethical choice to those patients who object, so we don’t risk the danger of those children getting serious illnesses,” Leiva says. “Other people can use Pentacel if they wish and I will continue to administer it.” Leiva’s own children were vaccinated with Pentacel, but he’d have preferred Pediacel.

“If I were in England, it wouldn’t be an issue.”

Nor should it be here, he says, as both Pentacel and Pediacel are legal and effective. The ministry spokesman says the cost difference is not known because Pediacel is not available here. The CPL supports immunization and wants Health Canada and provincial vaccine-acquisition programs to recognize parental concerns.

Vaccines are purchased in bulk by a federal/provincial/territorial purchasing group through a tendering process. Ontario’s Pentacel contract expires in March, but because production schedules run six to nine months, procurement discussions start well before the contract expires.