Some US bishops discourage Catholics from receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, if others are available

Some US bishops discourage Catholics from receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, if others are available

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The vaccine is the third to be authorized for use in the United States. Unlike its predecessors – Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna – the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one injection and can be kept at normal refrigerator temperatures, making it easier to transport.

Health experts have warned that Americans should receive the vaccine that is offered to them.

“If people get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, they shouldn’t say, ‘I don’t want to,'” said Dr. Paul Goepfert, director of the Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic, last month. “We are not in a scenario where we can choose and choose vaccines.”

Prior to the U.S. emergency use authorization for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the doctrinal office of the Roman Catholic Church – the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – said that “it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that used fetal cell lines aborted in their research and production process. ”
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The new communiqué from the Episcopal Conference is at odds with a note approved by Pope Francis, who received a vaccine in January. The December note said that “the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with abortion from which the cells used in the production of vaccines are derived”.

In a statement to CNN, Johnson & Johnson said, “We are proud to bring our COVID-19 vaccine to the world and contribute to an end to this pandemic. Our single injection COVID-19 vaccine uses an inactivated non-infectious adenovirus vector – – similar to a cold virus – which encodes the coronavirus “peak” protein (S) and there is no fetal tissue in the vaccine.

“We are able to manufacture hundreds of millions of doses using our designed cell line system and we hope to distribute these doses worldwide and help meet the critical need.”

The White House rejected the declaration of the Conference of Bishops on Wednesday.

A government official pointed to CNN for the Vatican’s December statement, adding that the Biden government is also “addressing the hesitation and working with local messengers on how to deal with it, including religious leaders”.

President Joe Biden is a practicing Catholic.

Making a vaccine with cells descended from fetal tissue

Vaccine manufacturers sometimes use fetal cell lines when developing a vaccine.
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Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna used cell lines derived from fetal tissue to test their vaccines, while being used in Johnson & Johnson’s “development, confirmation and production”, according to Dr. James Lawler, an infectious disease specialist from Nebraska Medicine.

These cells are removed for thousands of generations of the original fetal tissue, Lawler said.

Along with the use of cells, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is made differently from the other two authorized vaccines.

The company developed an adenovirus vector vaccine, in which the adenovirus – which has been modified to not cause disease – loads genetic material with a coronavirus peak protein into a body so that a person’s cells can make their own peak protein and activate your immune system against the virus, Lawler said.

Johnson & Johnson used the fetal cell line because it is “a well-studied industry standard for the safe and reliable production of viral vector vaccines,” said Lawler.

Paige Blankenship, clinic manager at Ohio State University, administers one of the first Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines on Tuesday.

What bishops are saying about the vaccine

But now, US bishops’ statements are encouraging Catholics to choose to receive the Pfizer / BioNTec or Modern option when possible.

The archdiocese of New Orleans called the Johnson & Johnson vaccine “morally compromised” in a statement last week, and the dioceses of Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Burlington, Vermont, issued statements expressing concern about the injection.

Bishop Michael Duca of the Diocese of Baton Rouge issued a statement that says, “If, for any reasonable circumstance, you can only get the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, feel free to do so for your safety and the common good. ”

The statement, which echoed in Burlington, went on to say that the decision to receive the vaccine is between the conscience of an individual and his health care provider, but that “in no way does the Church’s position lessen the transgression of those who decided to use cell lines abortions to make vaccines. “

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While Pfizer and Moderna vaccines should be chosen instead of Johnson and Johnson where possible, the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference said in a statement on Tuesday that it is “morally acceptable” to receive vaccines when “ethically flawless” options are not. available.

“Given the global suffering that this pandemic is causing, we reaffirm that being vaccinated can be an act of charity that serves the common good,” said the statement.

The statement was an update to one released in December that echoed the Vatican’s statement, saying that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were morally acceptable, despite their “remote connection to morally compromised cell lines” due to the severity of the pandemic.

What health experts are saying

Many health experts are encouraging those to whom the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is available to take it.

“My advice to all my patients and all my friends will be to get the first vaccine they can. That’s what matters most – stay protected,” said Dr. Jeff Carson, Rutgers Rector of Biomedical and Health Sciences at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Fauci: 'I would get any vaccine that was available to me'
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist who was raised as a Catholic, on Sunday asked Americans to take any of the three “highly effective” coronavirus vaccines now available and not postpone getting a vaccine in again and again.

In general, Americans have not been offered the choice of which vaccine to receive, although that may change in some places as the supply increases.

With the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, some websites offer the vaccine they have that day. The supply changes from week to week.

And while the Pfizer and Moderna options boast about 95% effectiveness compared to Johnson & Johnson’s 72% in the United States, experts say it is not the bottom option.

They say the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is an effective vaccine that offers good protection against severe forms of Covid-19. Anyone should take advantage if they have the opportunity. The vaccine’s effectiveness reaches 86% against severe forms of the disease.

“If we could completely prevent people from dying or being hospitalized with Covid, we would have no more problems,” said Goepfert.

CNN’s Dakin Andone and Jen Christensen contributed to this report.

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