On a recent episode of Father Spitzer’s Universe, Father discussed the availability of a Covid-19 vaccine and the ethics of producing and utilizing a vaccine that has been developed using fetal cells from aborted babies.
On April 17th, four USCCB committee chairmen sent a letter to Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., the Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, imploring him to “encourage and incentivize pharmaceutical companies to use only ethical cell lines or processes for producing vaccines.” Both President Trump and Vice President Pence were copied. The letter was also signed by a number of other prominent Catholics including, doctors, attorneys, and apostolate leaders.
Rather than summarizing the current situation on vaccines under development, we are providing the resources below. The first link is a good overview of the situation from the National Catholic Register.
- National Catholic Register article
- Table listing ethical and unethical vaccines and treatments *
- Science Magazine article: Abortion Opponents Protest COVID-19 Vaccines Using Fetal Cells
- Pontifical Academy of Life 2005 position synthesis on use of vaccines developed with embryonic stem cells
- Chart of companies in clinical trials
*August 19, 2020 Update: We have replaced the original ethical vaccine table with an article and table from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the Susan B. Anthony List.
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