The Vatican says COVID-19 vaccines are "morally acceptable" when no alternatives are available

The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said Monday that it is "morally acceptable" to receive COVID-19 vaccines produced using cell lines from aborted fetuses when an alternative is available.

In a statement issued on December 21, the CDF said that in countries where vaccines without ethical concerns are not available to doctors and patients - or where their distribution is more difficult due to special storage or transport conditions - it is " morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that used cell lines of aborted fetuses in their research and production process ”.

This in no way implies legitimizing the grave evil of abortion practice or that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines from aborted fetuses, the Vatican congregation said.

As COVID-19 vaccines begin to be distributed in some countries, questions have arisen regarding the connection of these vaccines to aborted fetal cell lines.

The mRNA vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer are not produced with aborted fetal cell lines, although aborted fetal cells were used in testing during the early vaccine design stages.

Three other major candidate vaccines developed by AstraZeneca with the University of Oxford, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, are all produced using aborted fetal cell lines.

The CDF said it had received multiple requests for guidance on Covid-19 vaccines, "which, in the course of research and production, used cell lines drawn from tissues obtained from two abortions in the last century".

He noted that there had been "different and sometimes conflicting" messages in the media from bishops and Catholic organizations.

The CDF statement, approved by Pope Francis on December 17, went on to say that the spread of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 represents a serious danger and therefore the moral duty to avoid remote passive material collaboration is not mandatory.

"It must therefore be considered that, in this case, all vaccinations recognized as clinically safe and effective can be used in good conscience with the certainty that the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells were used in the production of vaccines they derive ”, the CDF said in the note signed by its manager, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, and by the secretary, Archbishop Giacomo Morandi.

The Vatican congregation has encouraged pharmaceutical companies and government health agencies to "produce, approve, distribute and offer ethically acceptable vaccines that do not create problems of conscience for either health workers or people to be vaccinated".

"In fact, the lawful use of such vaccines does not and should not in any way imply that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines from aborted fetuses," the statement said.

The CDF also stated that vaccination "must be voluntary", while stressing that those who refuse to receive vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses for reasons of conscience "must do everything possible to avoid ... becoming vehicles for the transmission of infectious agent. "

“In particular, they must avoid all health risks for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and who are the most vulnerable.