Catholic bishops tell faithful to avoid J&J vaccine if possible

If given the choice, Roman Catholics should avoid the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for the coronavirus and instead get one of the other two currently authorized in the United States, the dioceses of Pittsburgh and Greensburg advise.

Both dioceses are pointing the faithful to a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said Tuesday the newly authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccine raises “moral concerns” because it is produced using cells cultivated from a line of cells derived from aborted fetuses.

The conference’s chairs of doctrine and pro-life activities noted that even the two vaccines authorized earlier

— developed by Pfizer and Moderna — “raised concerns because an abortion derived cell line was used for testing them, but not in their production.”

The conference also noted that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith determined that “when ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines are not available … it is morally acceptable to receive Covid- 19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.” It said the duty to protect the health of one’s self and others is strong.

“However, if one can choose among equally safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccine with the least connection to abortion-derived cell lines should be chosen,” the bishops said. “Therefore, if one has the ability to choose a vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines should be chosen over Johnson & Johnson’s.”

The bishops added: “While we should continue to insist that pharmaceutical companies stop using abortion-derived cell lines, given the world-wide suffering that this pandemic is causing, we affirm again that being vaccinated can be an act of charity that serves the common good.”

While not disputing the church officials’ contention that an abortion-derived cell line is used in production, Johnson & Johnson issued a statement Tuesday stressing that there is no fetal tissue in its vaccine, according to The Associated Press.