Digital Marian Helper Magazine Spring 2021

6 M arian H elper • S pring 2021 • marian . org Aren’t they correct? Wouldn’t the use of vaccines with a connection to abortion make us complicit with evil? Not according to the Holy See. In circumstances in which cells from aborted fetuses are used to create cell lines for use in scientific research and develop- ment, Dignitas Personae states “there exist differing degrees of responsibility”: Grave reasons may be morally proportionate to justify the use of such “biological material”. Thus, for example, danger to the health of chil- dren could permit parents to use a vaccine which was developed using cell lines of illicit origin, while keeping in mind that everyone has the duty to make known their disagreement and to ask that their healthcare systemmake other types of vaccines available. Moreover, in organizations where cell lines of illicit origin are being utilized, the responsibility of those who make the decision to use them is not the same as that of those who have no voice in such a decision. (35) In 2017, the Pontifical Academy for Life recon- firmed this position. The CDF’s Dec. 21 statement also reconfirmed this position and emphasized “ that the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells used in production of the vaccines derive.” That statement continues: It should be emphasized, however, that the mor- ally licit use of these types of vaccines, in the particular conditions that make it so, does not in itself constitute a legitimation, even indirect, of the practice of abortion, and necessarily as- sumes the opposition to this practice by those who make use of these vaccines. For its part, the USCCB in its Dec. 14 statement, likened the dangers of the coronavirus to that of rubella, stating that vaccination can be considered “an act of self-love and of charity toward others”: First, at least at present, there is no available alternative vaccine that has absolutely no connec- tion to abortion. Second, the risk to public health is very serious, as evidenced by the millions of infections worldwide and hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States of America alone. Third, inmany cases the most important effect of vaccination may not be the protection it offers to the person who receives the vaccination, who may be of relatively robust health and unlikely to be seriously affected by the disease. Rather, the more important effect may be the protection it offers to those who are much more likely to be seriously stricken by the disease if they were to contract it through exposure to those infected. But couldn’t such reasoning also lead to complacency with regards to the evil of abortion? Absolutely. The USCCB, in its Dec. 14 statement, warns against this. The NCBC, an agency that promotes and safe- guards the dignity of the human person in medicine and the life sciences, urges Catholics who take an abortion-linked vaccine to do so “under protest.” “A person who discerns in conscience that he or she can take such a vaccine has an obligation to make known his or her opposition to abortion and the use of abortion derived cell lines,” the organi- zation said in a Dec. 7 statement. Calling the matter an “existential challenge,” the NCBC noted that we live in a time that holds “potential for real scientific progress.” In light of that, “we should redouble our efforts to create alternatives to vaccines that utilize abor- tion-derived cell lines. Together, with courageous witness and hard work, we can help build a culture of life,” the statement concluded. What do we know about the COVID-19 vaccines currently in use? While many companies around the world are developing COVID-19 vaccines, as of our publication date, only two vaccines have been given an emergency authorization for use in the United States: those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Both vaccines are said to be about 94 percent effective. Unlike the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, in use elsewhere in the world, neither the Pfizer-BioNTech nor the Moderna vaccines were designed, developed, and produced using abortion-derived cell lines. However, as we already mentioned, to validate the effectiveness of the vaccines, both reportedly were tested using fetal cell lines from decades ago. The USCCB considers the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna options less directly linked with abortion than the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.