Public acceptance and uptake of Covid-19 vaccines is determined by many factors. One reason many people hesitate to take a Covid-19 vaccine is the bioethical issue surrounding the use of aborted fetal cell lines for the research, development, production, manufacturing and/or testing of these vaccine
In January of this year, Orthodox Reflections published aĀ comparative chartĀ which summarizes how each Covid-19 vaccine and vaccine candidate are developed, manufactured and tested and the role of aborted fetal cells in that process. According toĀ thisĀ source, both Astra-Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines are designed, developed, produced and tested utilizing aborted fetal cell lines; but the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines are designed and developed through computer sequencing, and are not produced or manufactured with aborted fetal cells, although some batches are tested on aborted fetal cells while other batches are tested on certain proteins.
Pfizer claims that animal or human cell lines areĀ notĀ used in the manufacturing process of their Covid-19 vaccine. Additionally, their definition of āhumanā may not include āfetalā, since abortion laws which legalize abortions do not recognize fetuses as human.
Another Orthodox websiteĀ claims that all four vaccines:Ā Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca and Johnson & JohnsonĀ utilize fetal cell lines ā Pfizer and Moderna in their research, development and testing; and A-Z and J&J in their research and development. I did some further digging by checking the references of this article andĀ ended up hereĀ ā which was aĀ Moderna eye opener. Fetal cellsĀ areĀ used to develop and manufacture this vaccine, as well as to test it.Ā In some of their papers, Moderna does not refer to the fetal cell line as HEK-293 but as Expi293F cells. Their use of fetal cells is embedded in their articles and can be difficult to find.
ThisĀ websiteĀ also leads to aĀ PDF chart where one can examine a large number of vaccines, including Pfizerās Covid-19 vaccine which can be foundĀ here. According to this patent, K562Ā human cells are used, which are derived fromĀ chronic myeloid leukemiaĀ (see example 2 towards the end). These cells are harvested from patients who have this disease and NOT from aborted fetuses. This type of harvesting does not harm the patients. Some batches of this vaccine are then tested on aborted fetal cells which are not present in the final product, and which do not appear to have been used in the research, design, development or manufacturing of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. However, in the second hyperlink above, Pfizer claims that animal or human cell lines are not used in the manufacturing process.
This information appears to be inconsistent with the information in their patent, but it is possible that Pfizer is drawing a distinction between ādevelopmentā and āmanufacturing.ā I also have no evidence that preliminary research that led to the development of the Pfizer vaccine, did not use fetal cell lines, because experts have been telling us that mRNA research was being done for about ten years prior to the appearance of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. It is unclear if any of this preliminary mRNA research used aborted fetal cell lines.
Besides scientists, lawyers are also extensively involved in any pharmaceutical process, and they play a role in the terminology used. Based on legal definitions, they may have drawn a distinction between āhumanā and āfetal,ā between ādesignā, ādevelopmentā, āproductionā and āmanufacturingā, and they may even have defined āresearchā in such a way that it would exclude any prior research done by other labs. These other labs may have used aborted fetal cell lines in their research, which may have in-directly led to the development of another independent pharmaceutical companyās drug or vaccine. An independent pharmaceutical company itself, may not have used any aborted fetal cell lines but may have benefited by prior research in other labs that did use them. Clarification in this area is beyond the scope of capability of someone like myself, but having greater confidence and clearer, more consistent language around the origins of the Covid-19 vaccines may reduce the hesitation that many feel when considering a Covid-19 vaccine.
In summary, I have found evidence that theĀ Moderna, Astra-Zeneca and Johnson & JohnsonĀ vaccines have used aborted fetal cell lines in their development. I have not found the same type of evidence for the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, but I cannot exclude that fetal cell line usage did not predate the development of the Pfizer vaccine in an in-direct manner. Based on my findings, theĀ Pfizer vaccineĀ mayĀ be theĀ leastĀ unethical of the four vaccines described here ā to those who deem the use of aborted fetal cell lines to be unethical.
Known Role of Aborted Fetal Cell Lines in Some Covid-19 Vaccines
Irene Polidoulis MD CCFP FCFP
Please visit our Vaccine Informed Consent page for more information.
I’ve been beating the drum for ethical vaccines for more than two decades. This issue goes far beyond the COVID vaccine. As such, I’ve looked into this particular topic deeply and with special interest.
Which leads me to my primary point: Unless you are prepared to reject all modern medicine, the Pfizer vaccine has no more connection to abortion than lipids, anti-depressants, chemotherapy, antibiotics, hydroxychloroquine and 99%+ of OTC and prescription medications out there.
If you are willing to reject materially all modern medicine, then you are logically consistent in rejecting the Pfizer vaccine on moral grounds. Otherwise, you’re not.
Note that the J&J, Astra and Sputnik vaccines are all directly connected to abortion and innately immoral.
Logically consistent or not, people have to wake up sometime. Correct? So once you have their attention, then teach them more. Donāt insult the laborers because they are late to the vineyard. Our Lord welcomes them.
How does your comment follow?
The general gyst of the chart is that the Pfizer vaccine is immoral. I’ve just shown that it isn’t, and that 99%+ of Orthodox Christians would not accept it as being immoral objectively speaking.
Are you still claiming that the Pfizer vaccine is intrinsically immoral? Not its forced imposition but the actual vaccine itself?
Both are immoral.
Then I would expect that you would or do not use any modern medicines, including Tylenol and Advil and really everything I can think of other than Gas-X and its derivatives, nor vitamins, as they were developed with the same (remote) reliance on HEK-293 as the Pfizer vaccine.
Do you or are you planning to do so?
We will look into it. As three contributors are MDs or med students, wonāt be difficult. If you see correctly, thank you for alerting us. If you are wrong, then you are wrong. But regardless, if we understand your point, up to the current time (per AFR’s physician as well) many people didn’t realize the prevalent usage of the HEK cells. So now we do, and we are upset about them, but we are estopped from complaining now because we did not complain previously when we didn’t know? Then how much of a failure are our Orthodox bioethicists? Even the ones who say they are troubled by the usage of these aborted fetal cells say that, “Oh well, we’ve been doing this…”
What kind of a massive failure are they? And the priests? And the bishops? And pretty much all of us? This sounds like the reasoning in Casey v. Planned Parenthood – there is no right to abortion in the Constitution, but since we’ve been living that way, we need to keep going. It is never too late to stop doing the wrong thing. So if this is the case, then time to draw a line and quit. Not keep excusing medicine after medicine. Especially since there is actually no need for a vaccine for Covid-19.
[…] la mii de tineri Čoc anafilactic, adesea fatal. V-aČi Ć®ntrebat vreodatÄ de ce s-ar folosi Česutul fetal pentru a produce vaccinuri? De aceasta: Česutul fetal nu pregÄteČte corpul pentru o reacČie […]
[…] to those who have a moral or practical objection toĀ experimentalĀ vaccines which make use ofĀ aborted fetal cells. One would assume either distance learning, or a transfer to a moreĀ OrthodoxĀ seminary would be […]
Sorry for mispelled TOTALATARIANISM, little tricky,but I guess the point was made
It was indeed.
More people need to look up the meaning of the word TOTALIATARISM.
Most aborted fetal cells are from elective abortions. Don’t fool yourselves!!!
It is not a vaccine in the classic sense. It is gene therapy. In all the document filed with the SEC regarding these “vaccines” they are call “gene therapy.” If they were billed as “gene therapy” they would not be legal under emergency directives. No one wants to address the issue of the alterations of genes as a moral issue. Why? Are not the genetic codes of the body God’s sacred image in Man? I really think we are totally in the dark about the dark side of this vaccine.
As absolutely critical as the aborted-fetus-cell issue is to both my Orthodox faith and my “natural” human/medical sensibilities, I’m just as concerned about the ethics of allowing the state to strike up the band for quasi-forced vaccination. All the real life- and soul-threatening issues in the world, and instead we accept this blatant social engineering. Will they get to “they could neither buy nor sell” without intermediate steps like this — in which we acquiesce to “health passports” and other deep insults to God-given human freedom? It’s not just the details (like aborted fetus cells; it’s also the big (ongoing) picture: divert attention, divide, destroy. Hegel must be proud.
We are all worried as well. The Russian Church has completely rejected vaccine passports, as we have covered. Now the first, that we know of, American bishop has rejected passports at least as far as liturgy is concerned. We will be covering that shortly. We hope that is a move towards being more active the way the Russian Church is. We also share the Patriarch of Moscow’s concern that this can easily lead to the anti-Christ. On the vaccine front, we firmly believe that any Orthodox Christian who wants a religious exemption can get one if he / she is persistent enough. In our area, the Moderna vaccine is the most common. As this article points out, that company has been lying through its teeth realizing that many Christians will reject the vaccine if they know the truth.