Catholic bishops object. Does it matter?

Shortly after the FDA approved the COVID vaccine for Johnson and Johnson this week, leaders of the American Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a warning: ‘The approval … raises questions again about the moral permissibility of the use of vaccines developed, tested and / or produced with the help of abortion-derived cell lines. ”

Some officials have made even stronger statements. The Archdiocese of New Orleans describes the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as ‘morally affected’. The deeply conservative bishop of the diocese of Tyler, Texas, in November called on Catholics to reject all three approved vaccines as ‘not morally produced’.

Why do Catholic bishops speak publicly about the vaccinations? Here’s what you need to know about the religious objection and its impact.

Why are some Catholics opposed to the J&J vaccine?

Human fetal cells are widely used in medical research, including the development and production of vaccines. Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have all used cell lines (known as HEK293 and PER.C6) taken from the tissue of aborted fetuses from the 70s and 80s. The cells used in the testing and production of these vaccines are clones, not directly from the original fetal tissue.

While Moderna and Pfizer used the cells to test their vaccines, Johnson & Johnson used the PER.C6 cells – or, as the bishops call them, ‘abortion-derived cell lines’ – in the development and production of the vaccine.

In December, the USCCB said the two RNA vaccines were ‘far from the initial evil of abortion’. According to the bishops, however, this is not the case for Johnson and Johnson: “If one can choose between equally safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccine should be chosen that is least related to cell lines obtained through abortion. , “the bishops said in their statement this week. Johnson & Johnson, along with other medical ethicists and medical experts, stressed that the cells themselves are not fetal material.

Will this statement change how Catholics behave?

This is unlikely. The USCCB can be much more clumsy on the issue of abortion than the Vatican. Pope Francis, for example, spoke of the urgent need to be vaccinated to save lives without reflecting on the issue of cell lines; in fact, the Vatican offered the Pfizer vaccine to all its citizens and made it a requirement for employees. Francis himself was vaccinated in January.

J. Patrick Hornbeck, a professor of theology at Fordham University, said that in Catholic moral theology the issue with medical research on the use of fetal cells is the idea of ​​’cooperating with evil’. But the church can take a nuanced look at these questions, and most liberal and moderate thinkers in the church agree that concerns about pharmaceutical companies benefiting from the product of abortions outweigh the need to save lives.

A small number of more traditionally minded American Catholics who pay attention to what the USCCB says may decide to drop the vaccine, despite Vatican statements. It is also possible that individual bishops who act against the vaccine may influence some Catholics. But a large number of Catholics disagree with American bishops on politically charged issues, such as LGBT rights and even abortion. (A 2016 Pew Research Center report found that only 8 percent of American Catholics said that contraception was morally wrong, even though the church was unequivocally against it.) “They are by no means in a close relationship with bishops, “Hornbeck said. “The practical impact will be minimal.”

The only significance Hornbeck sees in the statement is as a data point for the conservative turn of the American bishops. “It seems to me that the USCCB has chosen to adopt a culture war mentality,” Hornbeck said. “It is unfortunate that this fairly easy call is being used in Catholic moral theology in a way that could deter people from getting the vaccine they need.”

Will this affect how Catholic institutions distribute the vaccines?

Catholic churches, schools, parental care facilities and hospitals are an important part of the distribution of vaccines across the country. The USCCB statement will likely affect how churches and schools act and whether they will agree to distribute the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Archdiocese of New Orleans told the Religion News Service that it “asks all Catholic institutions to distribute vaccines according to the ethical guidelines we have issued.”

But it seems that Catholic hospitals are committed to still prioritizing medical needs. The Catholic Health Association, which represents thousands of hospitals and other health care institutions, claimed last month that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was “morally acceptable” and told RNA this week that the USCCB’s statement did not affect their decision to distribute it.

Will Catholics be able to raise their religious objection to avoid the J&J vaccine?

The bishops’ statement was clear that Catholics should avoid the Johnson & Johnson vaccine only if they have the choice to choose another. But experts believe that such a statement is useless: we do not have the luxury choice in the midst of a global pandemic.

Most pharmacies and other vaccination sites will not inform you in advance which vaccination you will receive. But there are ways an individual with religious concern can increase their chances of getting vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna. The most obvious way is to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The J&J vaccine is just being rolled out, so most sites that are currently distributing vaccines probably have one of the two RNAs. One of the great benefits of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is that it can be stored more easily. Thus, if a state has to allocate its vaccine supply, it is likely to direct its select Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to hospitals and other medical institutions, with the greater chance that the freezers will need the vaccines. And the J&J vaccine is more likely to be used in temporary locations, such as parking lots and churches and schools, that do not have access to heavy medical equipment.

It will be several months before the crisis reaches the point where health experts expect to start thinking about a more targeted use of the vaccines. But experts and Catholic theologians are united in encouraging people not to wait that long. Even the USCCB made it clear in its December statement that it is a moral necessity to get a vaccine when it is recommended by health officials: ‘Receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccines should be understood as an act of charity towards the other members of our community. In this way, we must be safely vaccinated against COVID-19 as an act of love for our neighbor and as part of our moral responsibility for the common good. ‘

Thanks to Antonio Alonso at Emory University; Noel Brewer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Bernard Nahlen at the University of Notre Dame; Jonathan Temte at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; and Bruce Y. Lee at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy.