DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) – Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque has issued a statement to help answer questions that Eastern Iowa Catholics may have about whether they have the COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals businesses developed by Johnson & Johnson, can receive with good conscience. .
The statement reads as follows:
‘Originally, it did not seem necessary to make a statement about the vaccine Johnson and Johnson (Janssen); any message will be essentially the same as what was said in December 2020 about the other vaccines.
However, some Catholics are a bit confused about whether they may receive the vaccine Johnson and Johnson. So some explanation is required:
As Catholics can choose which COVID vaccine they should receive, they should choose the Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations over the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Why?
Because Johnson and Johnson used cell lines from the fetal tissue of an aborted baby during the manufacture of the vaccine, whereas Pfizer and Moderna used it only for laboratory tests.
This is a subtle distinction. All three companies used those ethically compromised cell lines; it is only that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are further removed from the evil of abortion than the Johnson and Johnson vaccines are, because they have used only limited.
However, if Catholics are not given a choice about which vaccine to receive, it is morally acceptable for them to use the Johnson and Johnson vaccine against the serious health risk of the coronavirus.
In this regard, it seems that no one currently and in the foreseeable future offers a choice of vaccines.
In addition, as stated above, there is currently no COVID vaccine available that does not use the abortion-derived cell lines in design, development, production, and / or laboratory testing.
Thus, if Catholics are given the chance to be vaccinated and do not get the choice of vaccines, they should gratefully receive what is available; the sooner the better.
The general benefit of protecting public health from an infectious and potentially deadly virus is preferred over all concerns that Catholics may have about being treated with any of the available vaccines.
Michael Jackels
Archbishop of Dubuque ”
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