Social media users have shared posts online claiming that the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson contains aborted fetal DNA as an ingredient. This statement is false. While the vaccine uses laboratory-repeated fetal cells (known as fetal cell lines) during the production process, the vaccine itself does not contain any fetal cells.
An example of this claim can be seen here. The text reads: “I do not know who should hear it, but the first ingredient in J + J va ((ine [sic] is an aborted fetal DNA. That was today’s racial message. For those who stick with it, tune in tomorrow for more. ‘
The U.S. government approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Janssen COVID-19 vaccine on February 27, 2021, allowing millions of Americans to be vaccinated in the coming weeks and the vaccine could be drafted for additional approvals around the world (here).
The ingredients of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine can be seen in a fact sheet by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These are: recombinant, replication-incompetent adenovirus type 26 which produces the SARS-CoV-2 acrotein protein, citric acid monohydrate, trisodium citrate dihydrate, ethanol, 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HBCD), polysorbate-80, sodium chloride.
The list does not contain fetal cells or DNA (nor does it contain messenger RNA, like the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer). Jake Sargent, a representative of Johnson & Johnson, confirmed in an email to Reuters that the vaccine did not contain ‘aborted fetal DNA’.
The vaccines Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna used fetal cell lines in their testing phases. Johnson & Johnson used a human fetal cell line called PER.C6, which was developed from the retinal cells of an 18-week-old fetus aborted in 1985 during the production and manufacturing phase.
Fetal cell lines (not fetal tissue) are sometimes used in the development, confirmation or production process to make vaccines – including the COVID-19 vaccine (here, here).
These fetal cell lines are not derived from recent abortions, but are derived from decades old fetal cells (here more details on this). These cells replicate over decades in laboratory settings, thousands of times removed from the original fetal cells, known as fetal cell lines.
None of the completed COVID-19 vaccines used in the US contain actual fetal tissues (here, here, here and here), so it is not correct to describe it as a component of the vaccine.
For more details on how the Johnson & Johnson vaccine used PER.C6 cells to create its adenovirus vaccine, see (here).
Dr Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease doctor and senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety, confirmed in an email to Reuters that the vaccine did not contain any traces of fetal cell lines. “Although fetal cells are used in the production of the vaccine, it does not remain after the production process,” Adalja explained. “The contents of the vaccine or filtered in a way that removes foreign matter before it is packaged.”
Science Magazine reported here that cells derived from abortions since the 1960s have been used to develop vaccines such as chickenpox, hepatitis A, shingles and rubella, as well as drugs for diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and rheumatoid arthritis.
The use of aborted fetal cells has been a source of controversy among religious leaders and anti-abortion groups (here).
The Trump administration has worked to curb the use of human fetal cells, although President Donald J. Trump’s antibody treatment after being infected with COVID-19 was developed in the same way, as explained here by ABC News.
On December 21, 2020, the Vatican weighed in, saying that in the absence of vaccines made from other sources, it was morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines developed using aborted fetal cell lines (here).
VERDICT
Partly false. The COVID-19 vaccine by Johnson & Johnson does not contain aborted fetal cells. It was manufactured using cells from an aborted fetus in 1985.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.