Catholics may be a little confused by reports of different messages about the acceptability of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine due to the use of an abortion cell line in their production.
The differences have been resolved and Catholic teaching is clear: Catholics have a moral duty to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 by being vaccinated. However, if they can, they should avoid the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to the Vatican and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
If they decide not to be vaccinated, they have a moral obligation to mask, distance themselves socially and “do their best” to avoid being infected or infecting others, the Vatican said.
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The message was somewhat distorted when the Bismarck Diocese in North Dakota issued a statement on March 2 saying that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was “morally compromised and therefore unacceptable” to be given or received by Catholics.
“The local bishop is taking a tougher stance than the United States Council of Catholic Bishops or the Vatican,” said Dr. G. Kevin Donovan, a Catholic bioethicist at the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University Medical Center.
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A week ago, however, the Bismarck Diocese reversed its initial hard line.
“The Catholic Church’s concern with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is that it be morally compromised, as an aborted fetal tissue cell line was used in its development and production,” said Father Robert Shea, a specialist in diocesan ethics for health care. health. “As the United States bishops’ statement on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine indicates, it is possible to receive it in good conscience if there is no other choice, but it should be avoided if alternatives (such as Pfizer or Moderna) are available.”
A December statement by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made it clear that the overarching moral mandate is to be vaccinated or do as much as possible to prevent transmission of the virus.
When “ethically blameless” COVID-19 vaccines are not available, “it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process,” the statement said.
Neither Pfizer nor Moderna vaccines are entirely free from moral dilemma, as both used fetal cells from an abortion for initial testing, although not in the actual production of the vaccine.
Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI received their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine on January 13.
Catholics have a duty to protect “the common good,” the Vatican statement said. Vaccines “can be used with good conscience, with the certainty that the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells used in the production of the vaccines are derived”.
Father Tad Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Center for Catholic Bioethics, notes that Catholics have an obligation to voice their concerns, whatever vaccine they receive.
“End users have a duty to step back and show their disagreement with the continued use of these cells by researchers from the pharmaceutical industry and academia,” he said.
This could include writing letters to companies, posting on social media or writing letters to the editor, he said.
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An individual is certainly allowed to refuse a vaccine that he considers morally problematic, Donovan said. But they are required to do everything they can to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19 to themselves or others.
This would include masking, social detachment and hand washing.
“This is something that should not be missed,” said Donovan. “We have a moral obligation to not only look after our own health, but also to protect others whenever possible and by whatever reasonable means are available.”
His statement echoed in the Vatican, which said that people who refuse vaccines made with cell lines from aborted fetuses have a responsibility to protect others.
They must “do their best to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent”.
The problem is about the PER.C6 cell line, which came from retinal cells from an 18-week-old fetus legally aborted 36 years ago in the Netherlands.
In the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the cell line is used to help create the vaccine, but it’s not really in the vaccine, said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.
“It’s in the tank; it’s not going to your arm,” he said.
He added: “Waiting for a vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna is a choice to take an unnecessary risk, which can harm other people.”
This article was originally published in USA TODAY: Johnson & Johnson OK COVID vaccine for Catholics, if it is the only