American Catholics Oppose J&J Vaccine Because of Its 'Abortion Connection'

The Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans has issued a separate ruling on religious acceptability of essential COVID-19 vaccines, reports NY Mag.

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Catholics found the Pfizer and Moderna versions acceptable, but called Johnson & Johnson's new single-use vaccine "morally compromised" because it was derived from cloned stem cells distantly associated with fetuses aborted back in the 1970s.

“The Archdiocese of New Orleans, in light of the guidance of the Vatican, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the National Catholic Bioethics Center, confirm that, despite some laboratory trials that used an abortion-derived cell line, the two vaccines currently available from Pfizer and Moderna do not rely on cell lines from abortions in the production process and therefore may be morally acceptable to Catholics since the connection to abortion is extremely remote,” the statement said.

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“We advise that if the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine is available, Catholics should choose to receive either vaccine rather than the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it makes extensive use of abortion-derived cell lines,” the archdiocese was quoted as saying. The Hill.

As Religion News Service notes, this judgment (binding only for Catholics in one area - and only for those who pay attention to such leadership from the hierarchy) reflects an old argument:

“The announcement is part of a long-running debate regarding the use of so-called HEK293 cells, which reportedly trace their origins to an aborted fetus from the 1970s. "Scientists and ethicists have noted that HEK293 and similar cell lines are clones and not the original fetal tissue."

It is worth noting that another Catholic diocese nearby, in Tyler, Texas, rejected all three vaccines as "immorally produced" due to an unclear connection to abortion in the distant past. But in a recommendation to the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States, a different decision was made regarding the two old vaccines, and the Vatican itself injects the Pfizer vaccine (Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, among its recipients). The Vatican has threatened to fire unvaccinated employees.

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Thus, believers in Tyler, Texas must decide whether they will insist on being more Catholic than the Pope (s), while believers in New Orleans and elsewhere may have to wait until The church will deal with all the problems of COVID-19. Many, of course, will simply follow their conscience, as American Catholics often do, with relatively little weight placed on leadership from the hierarchy.

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