Do COVID-19 Vaccines Contain Aborted Fetal Cells?
Michael B. Sabom, M.D.
originally posted 01/22/2021
Note: The following information is based on my experience in the medical field (Internal Medicine and Cardiology), my understanding of the best epidemiology research currently available, and my Christian convictions. The content in this article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice, or as a substitute for the medical advice of one’s personal physician or health care provider.
1. From infectious diseases expert James Lawler, MD:
The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines currently being used in the United States do not contain any aborted fetal cells. However, Pfizer and Moderna did perform confirmation tests using fetal cell lines to ensure that the vaccines work.
Fetal cell lines are not the same as fetal tissue. Fetal cell lines are cells that grow in a laboratory. They descend from cells taken from elective abortions in the 1970s and 1980s. Current fetal cell lines are thousands of generations removed from the original fetal tissue. Vaccine makers may use these fetal cell lines in any of the following three stages of vaccine development:
- Development: Identifying what works
- Confirmation: Making sure it works
- Production: Manufacturing the formula that works
Neither the Pfizer nor Moderna COVID vaccines used fetal cell lines during the development or production phases. However, both companies used the fetal cell line HEK 293 in the confirmation phase to ensure the vaccines work. All HEK 293 cells are descended from tissue taken from a 1973 elective abortion in the Netherlands. We encourage anyone with concerns to weigh the risks and benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines with their doctor and have a personal conversation with a faith leader.
2. From the Vatican:
When alternative vaccines are not available, it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines developed or tested using cell lines originating from aborted fetuses. However, “the licit 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 proceeding from aborted fetuses.”
From an ethical point of view, “the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one’s own health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good.” If there are no other means to stop or prevent an epidemic, “the common good may recommend vaccination, especially to protect the weakest and most exposed.”
NOTE: For further information regarding the above, please refer to the following link (from which the two paragraphs above were abridged )
3. My personal opinion:
When I consider the potential harm (and death) of failing to use a vaccine to prevent not only said harm to the primary victim but also the potential harm (and death) of other people as the pandemic goes unchecked, I would agree with the Vatican’s statement that use of a cell line from an abortion done decades before would be less than ideal but not immoral until non-abortion cell line material for vaccine manufacture is available. But certainly this is a very difficult issue and may lead some people to refuse the vaccine realizing that their refusal may cause them and others illness and/or death which likely (according to current medical evidence) could have been prevented if vaccine had been given.
4. The opinion of a front -line Christian physician dealing directly with the care of COVID patients :
“Interesting. I agree [with Dr. Sabom]. This is an area which is, at the very least, a disputable matter within communities of faith attempting to weigh, in good conscience, the theological implications of vaccination on both a societal and individual level.
“The fact that it is a disputable matter and not clear cut brings the following scripture to mind and believe it has some application in guiding the believer’s response to the issue. Whether one receives the vaccine or abstains from receiving it, either side of the argument could be considered strong or weak in the faith depending on one’s vantage point. Either way, the issue is of monumental importance and should not be open to judgment from one camp over the other but one where one’s own conscience before God and the decision that follows should be respected under the umbrella of a disputable matter of the faith. Like the Vatican said, this is the best we have right now. Once another option becomes available that has not used fetal cell lines at any stage of development, the scale may tilt. That’s my opinion, for what it’s worth.”
“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand” (Romans 14:1-4).
5. My decision:
I have chosen to receive the vaccine both for individual reasons (I am in a high-risk group) and societal reasons (I am considering volunteering in some medical capacity in the future and would not wish to endanger any patient as an asymptomatic spreader).
An addendum from Paul Atkinson, M.D.
The vaccine evaluation from the Charlotte Lozier Institute (lozierinstitute.org), a pro-life research and education institute, concurs with the opinion of Dr. Lawler regarding the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. However, vaccines from AstraZeneca (a.k.a. Oxford AstraZeneca) and Johnson&Johnson are being developed and produced using abortion-derived cells. Neither of these vaccines have yet been approved for use in the U.S., but the AstraZeneca vaccine is already being used in other parts of the world including Europe. Therefore, I would encourage pro-life individuals to be informed as to the source of the vaccine they may be offered.
For additional information, here are links to two relevant Breakpoint podcasts from the Colson Center for Christian Worldview:
https://www.breakpoint.org/the-ethics-of-the-covid-vaccine/ (a short summary)
https://breakpoint.org/covidvaccine/ (an hour-long interview with a bioethicist)
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