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Archdiocese of New Orleans asks Catholics to avoid Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccination
The Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans is asking Catholics to avoid the recently approved vaccine Johnson & Johnson COVID-19, which he says is “morally endangered” by the “extensive use of abortion-derived cell lines.” In a statement Friday, the archdiocese noted that although it was decided to receive the vaccine, it was an individual choice, that ‘the latest vaccine from Janssen / Johnson & Johnson would be morally compromised because it is the abortion-derived cell line. used in the development and production of the vaccine as well as the testing. While a number of manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines used cells that originally came from an aborted fetus in the 1970s, the archdiocese claims that Johnson & Johnson ‘extended use’ is worse than that of Modern and Pfizer-BioNTech. vaccines, which used the cell lines. just to test their vaccines, according to Religion News Service. This makes the ‘connection with abortion … extremely remote’ in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, reads the statement and recommends that Catholics choose one of them rather than give them a choice. While the archdiocese claims that the decision is in line with the guidance of the Vatican, the American Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Catholic Bioethics Center, none of the three statements has been issued denying the new vaccine. In December, the Vatican issued general guidelines regarding vaccines in which the Holy See said it was “morally acceptable” for Catholics to receive shots using the HEK293 cells for research. While the HEK293 cells are believed to have originated from an aborted fetus in the 1970s, ethicists have said that the cells and similar cell lines are clones and not the original fetal tissue. The Vatican has made the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine available to all Vatican City residents. Pope Francis allegedly received the shot in January. The statement from the Archdiocese of New Orleans comes after USCCB leaders and leaders of other religious organizations sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s commissioner last spring about ethical concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines. “We are aware that, among the dozens of vaccines currently being developed, some are manufactured using old cell lines created from the cells of aborted babies,” the letter reads. “Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., for example, has a substantial contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is working on a vaccine that is manufactured using one of these ethically problematic cell lines.” A memorandum from the USCCB written by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, who chairs the organization’s Committee on Pro -Life Activity, argued that the vaccines are moral.