There is a heated controversy in some circles over the ethics of using vaccines. The reason? Some vaccines contain fetal cells. For many people, this raises enough ethical problems that they refuse to use the vaccines themselves or have their children vaccinated. What might be a Christian view of it? Andy and Steve take a jab at this topic in this week's edition of AC Podcast.
Are Vaccines Ethical?
Links & Articles
Which COVID-19 vaccines will be derived from aborted children’s cell lines? by LifeSite News
Use of Human Cell Lines in Pharmaceuticals – Canada from Children of God for Life
Vatican’s Academy for Life encourages parents to vaccinate children by Crux
Is Vaccination Complicit with Abortion? from Christian Medical and Dental Association
Intro Music
Amped Adapter by Marc Robillard
Outro Music
Juno by Oton
Andy, this topic was an eye-opener for me. Thank you! I have one concern. My understanding is that there is no medical advantage to using cell tissue of aborted babies. Adult stem cell tissue works just as well or even better as I understand it. Also, there is not the obvious ethical issue. If this is true, then there is no or far less justification for using a fetal tissue cell line in a vaccine even if there seems to be some long range benefit. Does this make sense or am I missing something? Mark Ward
Hi, Mark. Steve here. Andy is out of the office this week, so allow me to respond instead.
Thanks for bringing up that point. I’m not too familiar with the efficacy of using adult stem cells as opposed to fetal cells. If it’s true that stem cell tissues from adults would work just as well or even better, then – you are absolutely right – it would remove any obvious ethical issues, at least pertaining to using fetal cells. In fact, it would bring more clarity in the decision-making process. Why would we use something that contains cells derived from aborted children when we have the alternative? That, to me, would be a no-brainer. (Now, I don’t know how costly it might be to use adult stem cell tissues. If it’s too costly, it could restrict the supply of vaccines, causing more deaths.) With that said, I am of the opinion that, until we have those alternatives available, we are ethically justified in using vaccines to protect ourselves and our children. At the same time, we should put pressure on whomever is producing these vaccines to make the vaccines using adult stem cell tissues instead.
Thanks for your thoughtful engagement!