Bioethics
What’s important for the public to know even if they are opposed to the use of fetal cells for therapies, these medicines that are being made and vaccines do not contain any aspect of the cells in them.The cells are used as factories for production - Dr. Deepak Srivastava
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3 Bioethical Questions About COVID-19 Vaccines
Though the coronavirus vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer represent a new type of vaccine—using mRNA rather than a weakened form of the virus to trigger the immune response—some of the basic ethical questions around them stem from existing concerns over vaccination.
Vaccine hesitancy ranked among the World Health Organization’s top 10 threats to global health in 2019, before the pandemic began. Some American Christians have declined vaccines due to ethical and religious concerns over their formulation, and some share concerns with the vaccine-hesitant minority over safety and side effects.
The COVID-19 vaccine, so far, has been shown to be 94–95 percent effective, with side effects…
Resources
The ethics of ‘vaccine passports’ and a moral case for global vaccine equity
COVID-19 vaccinations are expanding…To the point where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's safe for vaccinated people to travel. But so-called "vaccine passports," for those who have received them are sparking debate over vaccine equity. Many developing countries are still struggling to obtain the vaccine.
How making a COVID-19 vaccine confronts thorny ethical issues
A shot at COVID-19 vaccine development shows the ethical issues behind commonly used cell lines.
COVID-19 Vaccines & Fetal Cell Lines
In various stages of vaccine development and manufacturing, some of the COVID-19 vaccines used cells originally isolated from fetal tissue (often referred to as fetal cells), some of which were originally derived from an aborted fetus. The use of fetal cell lines is a very sensitive and important topic within some faith communities
Fact Sheet: COVID Vaccines & Fetal Cell Lines
Do COVID vaccines being developed in Operation Warp Speed use fetal cell lines? Six vaccines do not use fetal cell lines. Two vaccines do, using the historically derived fetal cell lines HEK293 and PER.C6.
The controversial cells that saved 10 million lives
Numerous vaccines are made using the cells, which were taken from a foetus in the 1960s. But their use has also created a moral dilemma.
A culture of consent
More than 50 years after the WI-38 cell line was derived from a fetus, science and society has still to get to grips with the ethical issues of using human tissue in research.
Abortion opponents protest COVID-19 vaccines’ use of fetal cells
At least five of the candidate COVID-19 vaccines use one of two human fetal cell lines: HEK-293, a kidney cell line widely used in research and industry that comes from a fetus aborted in about 1972; and PER.C6, a proprietary cell line owned by Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, developed from retinal cells from an 18-week-old fetus aborted in 1985. Both cell lines were developed in the lab of molecular biologist Alex van der Eb at Leiden University.
Amid COVID-19, Pro-Lifers Push to Avoid Abortive Fetal Cells in Medicine
Despite the ethical challenges, most still concede to using old cell lines in life-saving drugs.
COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates and Abortion-Derived Cell Lines
One concern regarding the ethical assessment of viral vaccine candidates is the potential use of abortion-derived cell lines in the development, production or testing of a vaccine. This analysis utilizes data from the primary scientific literature when available, along with data from clinical trial documents, reputable vaccine tracking websites, and published commercial information.1 It is the hope that by providing accurate data, recipients can make well-informed decisions regarding vaccine choices.
Covid-19 Vaccine ‘Passports’ Raise Ethics Concerns, Logistical Hurdles
As vaccine rollouts gain momentum, governments world-wide are looking at ways for people to prove they are inoculated against the coronavirus, raising logistical and ethical concerns about whether others will be excluded from daily life.
If You’re Offered a Vaccine, Take It
“If they call you to get vaccinated, you should go,” said Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist and the founding director of the division of medical ethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.
Is It Ever OK To Jump Ahead In The Vaccine Line?
NPR spoke with three bioethicists — Fletcher, along with Ruth Faden, founder of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, and Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz of the Baylor College of Medicine, to reason out what's right.
Religious concerns over vaccine production methods needn’t be an obstacle to immunisation
Some cell lines, called human diploid cell lines WI-38 and MRC-5, came from three abortions performed for medical reasons (including psychiatric reasons) in the 1960s. These abortions were not done for the purpose of harvesting the cells. Cells taken from these cell lines are used to grow the virus, but are then discarded and not included in the vaccine formulation.
The surprising ingredients found in vaccines
Scientists add some bizarre things to vaccines, such as aluminium and extracts from shark livers. Many vaccines simply don’t work without them – but no one knows why.
The Truth about Fetal Tissue Research
The use of aborted fetal tissue has sparked controversy in the U.S., but many scientists say it is essential for studies of HIV, development and more.
Trump’s Covid Treatments Were Tested in Cells Derived From Fetal Tissue
The “cell lines” used to develop monoclonal antibodies, as well as remdesivir and vaccines, began with fetal tissue decades ago.
Unpacking the Connection Between Vaccines and Fetal Tissue
Is it true that the chickenpox vaccine is "derived from" aborted fetal cells?
Use of Aborted Fetal Tissue in Vaccines and Medical Research Obscures the Value of All Human Life
This opinion addresses the licitness, quasi-benefits, and consequences of using aborted fetal tissue in vaccines and in medical research. The Catholic Church permits temporary use of vaccines generated using aborted fetal tissue to protect children from preventable diseases until alternative vaccines that do not use aborted fetal tissue are available.
Vatican OKs Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines, Even If Research Involved Fetal Tissue
The Vatican says that it's "morally acceptable" to receive a vaccination for COVID-19, even if the vaccine's research or production involved using cell lines derived from aborted fetuses, given the "grave danger" of the pandemic.
Why We Don’t Need Fetal Cells to Conduct Life-Saving Research
Although these cells were initially isolated from aborted fetuses, they are categorically not fetal stem cells. Indeed, they are nothing like the cells she describes isolating directly from fetal tissue. WI-38 and MRC-5 are transformed cells lines, and the roles they have played in saving lives have absolutely nothing to do with their fetal origin.
You asked, we answered: Do the COVID-19 vaccines contain aborted fetal cells?
No, the COVID-19 vaccines do not contain any aborted fetal cells. However, Pfizer and Moderna did perform confirmation tests (to ensure the vaccines work) using fetal cell lines. And Johnson & Johnson uses fetal cell lines in vaccine development, confirmation and production. But it's important to have the full context: Fetal cell lines are not the same as fetal tissue.
3 Bioethical Questions About COVID-19 Vaccines
Some of the following questions focus on whether the vaccines themselves are safe and ethical for individuals to use—starting with grappling over the common use of abortion-derived fetal cell lines in vaccine development—and some take a closer look at the ethics of distribution for the sake of local and global neighbors.
Cell lines
Immortal cell lines are often used in research in place of primary cells. They offer several advantages, such as they are cost effective, easy to use, provide an unlimited supply of material and bypass ethical concerns associated with the use of animal and human tissue. Cell lines also provide a pure population of cells, which is valuable since it provides a consistent sample and reproducible results.
Human Cell Strains in Vaccine Development
The first licensed vaccine made with the use of a human cell strain was the adenovirus vaccine used by the military in the late 1960s. Later, other vaccines were developed in human cell strains, most notably the rubella vaccine developed by Stanley Plotkin, MD, at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.
Human primary cells and immortal cell lines: differences and advantages
In research and drug development, scientists routinely use cell lines as a model for healthy or diseased tissue. Cell lines offer an easy, inexpensive and stable platform. However, they often do not fully represent what is occurring in vivo. If you want to model the complex physiological behavior, human primary cells might be the better choice.
Lung tissue from aborted fetus not used in AstraZeneca vaccine development
The AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccine relies on a harmless chimpanzee cold virus to carry the coronavirus spike protein into the body in order to create an immune response. AstraZeneca did not use MRC-5 cells, but it did use a different producer cell line to develop it: Human Embryonic Kidney 293 TREX cells. According to the University of Oxford development team, the original Human Embryonic Kidney 293 cells were taken from the kidney of an aborted fetus in 1973, but the cells used now are clones of the original cells and are not the original fetal tissue.
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