Vaccine ethics
In a pastoral letter, the Scottish Bishops’ Conference wrote: “We welcome the approval of the first vaccines and hope this will allow an immunisation programme to protect our population and offer the prospect of some return to normal life.
“Society rightly pays attention to the ethical sourcing of commodities to ensure that the benefits do not come at a disproportionate cost. Similar concerns have been raised about vaccines. We reassure that, in accordance with guidance from the Pontifical Academy for Life, it is ethical to take C19 vaccines purchased by the UK at present because foetal cell lines have not been used in their development or because their sourcing is sufficiently remote.”
12/16/2020 at 10:24 PM Posted by Kevin Edward White
December 14, 2020
The bishops of Colorado affirm that the use of some COVID-19 vaccines is morally acceptable under certain circumstances. The development and utilization of vaccines to eradicate certain infectious diseases is a remarkable advancement in medical technology. The Catholic Church supports the morally legitimate development of vaccines to eliminate suffering and to promote human dignity and the common good. Considering the worldwide impact of COVID-19, vaccines for this virus seem to be especially necessary and urgent.
At the same time, we must remember that a good end cannot justify evil means. Vaccines need to be developed according to ethical criteria. Human cell lines that come from aborted fetuses should not be used in the design, development, production, or lab testing of vaccines.
by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley The season of Advent is our time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. He comes in history, in mystery and in majesty. We acknowledge his coming in history at Christmas when we celebrate Jesus’ birth and the events surrounding his Nativity 2,000 years ago. His coming in majesty will occur at the end of the ages when he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. His coming in mystery recognizes the many ways he comes to us between the other two “advents,” for example, through his word and the sacraments, and in the daily unfolding of his wise and loving Providence in our lives. Faith discerns the coming of the Lord and his gracious purposes in these ordinary events.
By Lisa Zengarini
As the United States gear up for its largest ever immunisation campaign against COVID-19, the US Bishops have decided to further clarify the Church’s position regarding vaccines that have some connection to cell lines originating from aborted foetuses, reminding that since the beginning of the pandemic it has advocated for the development of a vaccine that has no link to abortion.
In a statement released on December 14, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities reiterate that, given the urgency of the crisis, “the lack of available alternative vaccines, and the fact that the connection between an abortion that occurred decades ago and receiving a vaccine produced today is remote, inoculation with the new COVID-19 vaccines in these circumstances can be morally justified”.
12/15/2020 at 1:38 PM Posted by Kevin Edward White
On the moral illicitness of the use of vaccines
made from cells derived from aborted human fetuses
In recent weeks, news agencies and various information sources have reported that, in response to the Covid-19 emergency, some countries have produced vaccines using cell lines from aborted human fetuses. In other countries, such vaccines are being planned.
A growing chorus of churchmen (bishops’ conferences, individual bishops, and priests) has said that, in the event that no alternative vaccine using ethically licit substances is available, it would be morally permissible for Catholics to receive vaccines made from the cell lines of aborted babies. Supporters of this position invoke two documents of the Holy See: the first, from the Pontifical Academy for Life, is titled, “Moral reflections on vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human fetuses” and was issued on June 9, 2005; the second, an Instruction fr