Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissent in a case the court refused to hear was precisely worded, broadly saying the COVID-19 vaccines were “developed” using fetal cell lines. He did not claim that fetal tissue is an ingredient in the vaccines.
said that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine contains aborted fetal tissue. Thomas’ description of the plaintiff’s position was more carefully worded and did not claim that fetal tissue is an ingredient in the vaccines.Thomas did not specify whether the "cell lines" were used in the vaccines’ testing phase or in final production. However, thedenied by the Supreme Court said that all of the COVID-19 vaccines used in the U.S.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses the company’s own proprietary fetal cell line called PER.C6, derived from retinal tissue from an 18-week-old fetus aborted in 1985. The vaccine uses a modified cold virus known as an adenovirus that can train the body to recognize the coronavirus. The adenovirus is grown and replicated in the PER.C6 cell line,of DNA from the cell line.objections among some Catholics and anti-abortion advocates.that "it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process."and encouraged the use of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines instead.
Those two vaccines were developed with messenger RNA, or mRNA, technology, which uses spike proteins from the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 rather than a modified cold virus. Fetal cell lines were not used to manufacture Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. But the companies used fetal cell lines as part of their development to test whether their vaccines were safe and effective in humans.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement in 2020 saying the use of fetal cell lines for testing made the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines"In view of the gravity of the current pandemic and the lack of availability of alternative vaccines," the statement said. "The reasons to accept the new COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are sufficiently serious to justify their use, despite their remote connection to morally compromised cell lines.