TYLER, Texas — Because there are differing claims about the ethics of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, some clarifications need to be made, especially since phase III trials are concluding. What Catholics are willing to accept as ethical, despite unethical associations, for the first COVID-19 vaccines released publicly could influence the availability of more ethically sound options going forward.
Bishop Joseph Strickland in the Diocese of Tyler, who is known for his straight talk and defense of the faith, tweeted on Nov. 16: “Moderna vaccine is not morally produced. Unborn children died in abortions and then their bodies were used as ‘laboratory specimens.’ I urge all who believe in the sanctity of life to reject a vaccine which has been produced immorally.”
On Nov. 17, a Catholic News Agency (CNA) article compared Bishop Strickland’s position to that of bioethicists at the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) and the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC).
CLI lists the Moderna vaccine as “ethically uncontroversial,” a category they describe as having no connection to the use of cells from electively aborted fetuses. Dr. John Brehany, director of institutional relations at NCBC, told CNA that while Moderna “has some association with the use of cell lines from elective abortions, it is not responsible for that use, and its vaccine was not produced using HEK293 cells.”
The HEK293 referenced by Dr. Brehany is a fetal cell line derived from an aborted fetus in the 1970s. The claim that Moderna did not use HEK293 to produce the COVID-19 vaccine does not seem to line up with other available information.
Read the rest at the National Catholic Register.
Stacy Trasancos is the author of Particles of Faith: A Catholic Guide to Navigating Science published by Ave Maria Press. She has a PhD in chemistry and a MA in dogmatic theology, and she is the Executive Director of Bishop Strickland’s St. Philip Institute in Tyler, Texas.
Any information on the “Pfizer” vaccine?
Thanks for this clarification!
Somehow President Trump allowed 70 new stem cell lines from aborted babies to be approved just 4 months ago. Since the NIH director is a presidentially appointed post, it is up to the President to keep or replace the person holding that position. The President has kept Collins in place and thus is complicit in his approval of these cell lines. To add these lines come from Israel, a major recipient of Foreign aid from America. They profit from the creation and destruction of developing babies.
These lines will be reproduced over and over for development, design and testing of any number of interventions. Not much of a word from those who value a whole life ethic. In particular, those who are pressing for 2nd term for the President have not placed this at his feet.
“WASHINGTON, D.C., June 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has approved 70 new embryonic stem cell lines for use in projects eligible for federally funded research.
The new cell lines, which come from human embryos created and destroyed in a laboratory, were approved by the NIH last month. The new cell lines come from the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Israel. “
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/nih-approves-70-new-human-embryonic-stem-cell-lines-for-use-in-federally-funded-research?fbclid=IwAR10n6fCojlkh2imhJ-G6BqzAijre27V4t-AnFi3NCkJCqDk4TPo44PgrkE
Thanks for speaking up. Lozier and lifesitenews were not providing equitable responses in the media. Will you be making a comment to the larger media audience? Many are latching on to their response and accepting the uncontroversial narrative.
Thank you Bishop Strickland. I am blessed to be in your Diocese. I and so many all trust your faithfulness to true Church teachings. You are in our prayers. God bless. I have already planned to not be taking any kind of vaccination that is not ethical.
I figured out a way for Catholics and Christians to be able to accept vaccines that were made using aborted fetuses, without such a moral dilemma.
If the people who receive the vaccines are aware that unborn children gave their lives so that others can be healed of disease, I believe receiving a vaccine is justifiable. Just as war Veterans gave their lives so that we may live in a free country, so these children gave their lives to better ours.
When you receive a vaccine you are receiving a gift from an unborn child, who, whether or not they had a choice, has sacrificed his or her life so that you may live free of disease.
Give honor to whom honor is due. Accept their gift. Also, make all aborted fetuses that are used to create vaccines that cure millions of people of diseases Canonized by the Church.
The Catholic Church is against abortion, and so am I. I mean no disrespect by this cliche, but wouldn’t it make a great impact on the Earth and in churches everywhere if the Catholic Church were to “put their money where their mouth is” and Canonize (make into Saints) every aborted fetus that was ever used to create a vaccine?
What an ill-formed conscience. Is there any blood of an innocent child massacred for your benefit are you comfortable with? I’m not, and those true to God are not either. God wants obedience, not sacrifices. All God’s creations are precious and deserve our protection, they are the most vulnerable and need our help so they can have a chance at life and their living contribution to all of humanity by their choice, not us choosing for them. Christ died so that we would have life and have it abundantly. Your reasoning goes against the sanctity of life, respect of Gods creation and benifiting from the blood of the innocent to supposedly save lives. He who seeks to save his life will lose it, he who gives his life for my sake will gain it. Do Gods will, not the misguided will of man.
I, respectfully, disagree with Mr. Lorna’s position:
A soldier, whether drafted or volunteer, is making a choice (a draftee can refuse to serve); an unborn child does not make a choice and is doubtful that the mother choosing abortion is doing so to sacrifice her child for the good of humanity.
Concerning sainthood for the aborted: While their murder is a form of martyrhood, the concept of martyrhood requires a voluntary decision to die for the faith; aborted children, again, are not offered this choice. I do believe that they have a special place in heaven since never had the opportunity to sin.
I apologize: my previous comment reply was to Mr. Korn’s comment; I didn’t notice that the name was erroneously auto-corrected until after publication.
I have read that a former executive of Pfizer claims their Covid vaccine may impact a woman’s ability to have children. Snopes says the claim is untrue, but it does so by splitting hairs (as usual). Do you have any information on this?
No. And in fact, no one does because the vaccines haven’t been tested long enough to determine if this actually occurs. One of the major dangers in these vaccines is that mRNA is a brand new technology never been used in vaccines before and they are trying to roll this out in less than a year when vaccines usually require at least 4-6 years of testing.
I know of young ladies who no longer menstruate while others don’t stop, either way, it is not good. We need to put our faith in God first and fear out of our hearts, Satan uses fear to make us act erroneously.
If the vaccine were made without any connection to abortion that would be wonderful. That, by itself, would not automatically make it ethical though.
As mentioned above, one potential side effect is loss of fertility. Is it ethical for a manufacturer to produce a product with a sterilant adverse effect to prevent a virus that is not really life altering to most women of child-bearing age? Sterility would be life altering though. What about other side effects or ingredients? Do we know what impact they will have on a person? Will the impact be less severe than the illness itself, for the particular person? Possibly this is an individual decision based on individual biology and risks from receiving the vaccine or not.
None of these covid-19 vaccines in development have been tested on animals. In ethical medical research, a thorough investigation of the illness and a thorough investigation of the treatment/vaccine tested on animals must occur and then these studies must provide proof that all factors are understood well and show promise with minimal ill effects PRIOR TO testing on humans. Human trials should not occur without this previous study. Nor should human trials occur if the animal studies showed bad results (Previous corona virus vaccine attempts were abandoned after disastrous animal trials) The Nuremburg code, the UN Declaration on Human Rights, Helsinki Accord, are a few of the standards regarding ethics in human experimentation.
Lastly, are the companies who produce these vaccines ethical companies? Many of them have acted unethically with their other products. For example – promoting products they knew were dangerous such as opiods, delayed recalling of unsafe products in order make more money, lobbying lawmakers for favorable laws such as the 1986 NCVIA (national childhood vaccine injury act) which prevents vaccine manufacturers from being sued.
I pray that aborted babies will cease to be viewed as “ingredients” by the medical establishment. I also pray that other unethical activuties will cease.
Not they. President Trump is trying to roll this out. Every part of the decision and rush to approve comes under his direction. In 1 shot he is going to involve nearly 300 million and the unborn the mothers carry as well as every child born of those who are vaccinated. Pfizer and Moderna both have unethical use of aborted baby cells in one or more phase. Trump said they would not. He also funded the purchase of 70 stem cell lines from Israel in June . human Embryos were created and destroyed to make them.
I’m disappointed with so-called bioethicists not seeing the big picture.
From the information you have given, plus the difficulty of communicating the complexity of “moral” vs “immoral” vaccines, this has been my simple explanation:
In DEVELOPMENT of a Covid vaccine, Moderna used aborted fetal cells, potentially leaving a “fingerprint” of the aborted fetal cell material. (This reflects the template aspect of DNA and RNA production).
Pfizer did not use aborted fetal cells in the DEVELOPMENT of their vaccine.
While both used aborted fetal cell lines in FINAL TESTING. This in itself should not result in Covid vaccine contamination.
Neither Moderna nor Pfizer use aborted fetal cell lines in the PRODUCTION of their vaccines.
I do not believe that the laws of God can be violated — via using aborted fetal cell lines. Only time will tell whether this is true.
Please modify:
I do not believe that the laws of God can be violated without consequences — via using aborted fetal cell lines. Only time will tell whether this is true.
Deacon Frank, thank you for your clear summary of the facts around the two vaccines. So are there different degrees of culpability that society can hold Moderna to versus Pfizer for using fetal stem cell lines in more stages of their vaccine’s creation? Or is the line so blurred that as long as they do not continuously use fetal stem cell lines in the PRODUCTION of the vaccines, the national Bishop conferences will give them a pass? If so, I am saddened to think that the end has indeed justified the means in the eyes of a vast majority of our shepherds.
The USCCB has responsibility that is beyond my expertise and capability.
My comments were meant to highlight the belief that we cannot violate God’s law without consequences. Medically this is new territory. Medicine has historically made a number of mistakes. From a physical point of view, the Pfizer vaccine seems to be the least likely to produce bad consequences – if God’s law indeed comes into play.
God’s laws are at play in both the Moderna and Pfizer products. No aborted baby, no means of confirmatory testing. That evil deed remains evil and utilizing products of that abortion is granting license for the continued and expanded use. Have we forgotten the synomex and PepsiCo boycott from 2011, where Pepsi leveraged technology that acts as tastebuds from a similar cell line. If it was wrong then surely it is now.
I would agree on a moral level. We have a long way to go to convince many Christians who are willing to compromise on outright abortion, as well as related activities.
Why are some of the vaccines listed here considered ethical when they are made with clear cancer cell lines like K562 which has many carcinogenic genes that could contribute to Leukemia,
Lung, Colorectal, Endometrial, Ovarian, Prostate, Stomach, Small Intestine, Hepatobiliary tract, Urinary tract, Pancreas, Brain
Melanoma, hematologic malignancies or breast cancer?
Maybe it would be ethical if they let you know this up front so you could make an informed choice and not make this mandatory for any reason. Maybe then it would be ethical for you to make a personal decision to opt for exposure to the cancer cells of a 53 year old female because you are concerned about covid.
It took some digging to find this – but it’s there. HEK293 also is highly mutagenic with 64 chromosomes, Trisomy X (XXX) and multiple copies of chromosome 17 which houses the BRCA1 gene for which it also tests positive. People should know these things.
Fully informed consent with the ability to fully refuse without penalty is the only ethical way to go with any of these kinds of medications because they are actually sorcery (pharmakeia) which is not holy.
Guy Schultz,
Couldn’t agree more!
I will have to move or find another type of work if all nursing in my state is required to be vaccinated with it.
Mr. Korn, I’m afraid your reasoning is flawed. The point of having a choice to give one’s life has already been made, but the point I wish to make is that, by accepting a vaccine that uses aborted fetal tissue you are encouraging and supporting the continued practice. Rather, if all who understand this unethical practice were to refuse the vaccine then the demand for it, and the production of it would cease.
Is there anyone creating an alternative?
List is here: https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/CovidCompareMoralImmoral.pdf
I contend that this virus is nothing at all like what the elite experimentalists would have us believe. This was done for purely evil reasons of frightening proportion.
This is the beginning of the end of our humanity and wearing masks has already dehumanized us intentionally. I’ve no doubt with Bill Gates involved (or even if he were not), that “A potential side effect” of infertility is actually a deliberate attempt to sterilize us. And with a permanent RNA alteration passed on, we may be targeted for elimination if sterility is part of it.
Add to this the plethora of cancer cells mentioned above, and this is a virtual soup of experimentation.
I believe we are guinea pigs for mountain of experiments with this one, the least being to “cure” a virus.
At the risk of sounding corny, I believed we have entered the time where there are great evil forces at work against our Christ. I believe this evil is coming in many forms including through a network of elite people who believe they are God and we are to serve them. They only need so many of us.
Believing one’s self to be God is the cornerstone of satanism.
I believe there is evil in the church pushing this.
If this is our belief, then taking this vaccine makes us complicit in this evil act.
Our lives here are temporary, but our lives belong to God. I can imaging satan’s laughter as he sacrifices us along with so many innocent lives through abortion.
Does anyone know about the astrasenicia vaccine? I believe it was developed in England! Any information from you would be most helpful!
AstraZeneca partnered with Univ of Oxford – yes it uses aborted fetal cells. Info on our website here: https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/CovidCompareMoralImmoral.pdf
What further information do you have on morally produced vaccines? Bishop Schneider recently warned against using BioNTech and Pfizer vaccines because of their connection to abortion. See interview on LifeSite News Dec. 21, 2020. Are there any other companies producing vaccines that are not tainted by abortion?
A list of vaccines using aborted fetal material is here: https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/vaccineListOrigFormat.pdf
Sir you are very wrong on that one.
you dont use their martyr for your selfish purpose.
they got murdered and used by the occult breed with an agenda.
do not use it.
we Love you,
GOD bless you
Scientists used aborted fetal tissue research are in direct violation of the 1947 Nuremberg Code which requires the informed consent of the subject and the ability to withdraw from the experiment, both denied to the aborted subject. These scientists are no better than Nazi war criminals. Many vaccines are immoral, unethical and illegal (See: COGFORLIFE.ORG). These cell lines must be destroyed and all human fetal research stopped!
Deacon Fischer – I must be missing something here.
You say “While both used aborted fetal cell lines in FINAL TESTING, this in itself should not result in Covid vaccine contamination.”
Then you end by stating “I do not believe that the laws of God can be violated without consequences — via using aborted fetal cell lines.”
If the use of aborted fetal cell lines is violating the laws of God, what then do you mean saying that testing of such lines “should not result in vaccine contamination”? Is not testing of such fetal cells still a violation of the laws of God?
By “vaccine contamination” I refer to the potential of human DNA products directly or indirectly physically ending up modifying the vaccine itself. While the use of aborted fetal cells in testing has potential problems – and cannot be morally be justified, I am unable to speculate as to the direct consequences for those receiving the vaccine.
An analogy: if I expedite an adulterous affair for a friend of mine with his girlfriend – it is a violation of God’s law and I will answer to God for my contribution to this sin. While he may end up with an STD, I will not.
Frank Fischer, MD, FAAP (answer based on my medical understanding and experience)
We greatly appreciate the chart displaying “COVID-19 VACCINES AND TREATMENTS IN DEVELOPMENT – UPDATED DEC 28,2020!”
We are not scientifically or medically schooled, but your website, in generally, and the links on this chart are manageable for us! THANK YOU! We’ve sent a letter to the editorial page of our newspaper and emailed our bishop on this matter. God willing, we will “bug” lots more people about this!
Our big question for you: Regarding the pharmaceutical companies in the first column on your chart, please update us on when these ethical covid treatments or vaccines may be available for use.
We have no idea when they will complete all necessary safety and efficacy testing before FDA approval. Normally vaccines take 4-6 years but because of Covid-19 they are being rushed through the approval process. No way to determine which ones will be approved next.