COVID Vaccine Ethics To the relief of many, there are now several apparently effective COVID vaccines being administered throughout the world. But while many are thrilled about these vaccines, there are some who are seriously concerned about them. One of the concerns that a number of Catholics have is an ethical one. There are currently three vaccines that either are already available or are likely to be made available in the coming months: the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines. The ethical concern that many Catholics have expressed about these vaccines has to do with their connection to abortion. All three of these vaccines have at least some connection to a fetal cell line known as HEK-293 that was derived from a likely aborted fetus in 1972. Cells were harvested from the kidney of this fetus which were then cultured to reproduce indefinitely. These cells have been multiplying and have been used in experiments and certain other vaccines for decades. In the case of the COVID vaccine frontrunners, the least controversial and least morally compromised vaccine is the Pfizer one. Fetal cell lines were not used in any way in vaccine until after it was made. HEK-293 cells were used to test the completed vaccine to see if it responded as expected. On the other hand, the vaccine with the strongest connection to fetal cell lines is the AstraZeneca vaccine. The HEK-293 cell line was used in all parts of the process: in the design, development, and production stages in addition to confirmatory testing. This means that its connection to the fetal cell line is ongoing. The Moderna vaccine is where it gets more complicated. It has been widely reported that this vaccine, like the Pfizer vaccine, used fetal cell lines only in confirmatory testing. However, one organization dedicated to ethical vaccine production called the Children of God for Life (COGFL) claims that this is factually incorrect. COGFL claims that fetal cell lines were, in fact, used in the original vaccine research, development, and production of the Moderna Vaccine in addition to the confirmatory testing. They cite numerous scientific papers as evidence for this. The National Catholic Register published an article about this called Measuring Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine on Nov. 20th. While most documents and articles, including one from the United States bishops, continue to indicate that the Moderna Vaccine used fetal cell lines only for confirmatory testing, COGFL continues to dispute this and their argument appears to have gone unanswered. All I can say is that I will have to wait for more experts to weigh in on this. Why does all this matter? It matters because receiving a vaccine that makes use of unethically derived fetal cell lines cooperates to some degree in the original immoral act and potentially serves to normalize these practices in science. But while this is true, it must also be said that remote cooperation in evil is not always forbidden. For example, if a man is robbed at gunpoint and consents to give the robber his money, while the man has cooperated in the robbery, that doesn’t mean he acted immorally. This is because he had a proportionate reason to do so (his life was in danger) and he didn’t do anything directly immoral in the process. In the same way, cooperation with vaccines tainted by illicit cell lines can be morally permitted, provided that there is a proportionate reason to do so and there is no other alternative. This is why the U.S. bishops said that “the AstraZeneca vaccine should be avoided,” but considered that it could be permissible to receive even this vaccine if there are a “lack of alternatives” due to the serious risk to the public health. So, should you vaccinated? I cannot answer that question yes or no. On the on hand, no one should be forced to cooperate with the practice of using illicit cell lines in vaccine development. On the other hand, we are not forbidden to do so for a proportionate reason, especially taking into account our neighbor’s safety. If one does get vaccinated, he or she ought to choose the least morally compromised vaccine available. And if one does not, he or she must take due precautions to limit the risk endangering the health of others. Either way, the bishops remind us that we “must continue to do what we can to ensure the development, production, and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine without any connection to abortion and to help change what has become the standard practice in much medical research, a practice in which certain morally compromised cell lines are routinely used as a matter of course, with no consideration of the moral question concerning the origins of those cell lines.” -Fr. Sandquist