This is a HUGE moral dilemma for religious Conservatives.
I don’t recall this being mentioned in detail before, and it seems to me like it would be a HUGE deal to religious Conservatives.
Johnson & Johnson says there is no fetal tissue in the vaccines themselves, but I do not think this is the issue people see.
The issue is that the research used to make these vaccines relies on aborted fetal tissue.
Church leaders have been telling people to avoid The Johnson & Johnson vaccine if possible, but how do we know these other companies are being honest with what goes into their vaccines?
Here are the latest reports:
ABC News reported:
With Johnson & Johnson vaccines on their way across the country, a longstanding dilemma for religious conservatives is being revived: much of the research for coronavirus inoculations relies on the use of material derived from human fetal tissue -- something they have spent years fighting against.
Many next-generation vaccines -- including those from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson -- use specialized cells originally derived from aborted fetal tissue. Though not ingredients in the shots themselves, they're used in testing or making vaccines.While Pfizer and Moderna used these cells during preliminary laboratory testing months ago, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine uses the cells as part of its existing manufacturing process -- raising especial "moral concerns," conservative leaders told ABC News.
NPR had more:
Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was produced in part through the use of cell lines derived from an aborted human fetus. In a statement released this week, leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said that this feature of the vaccine raises questions about its permissibility.
"If one has the ability to choose a vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna's vaccines should be chosen over Johnson & Johnson's," say Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., and Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind. Naumann chairs the USCCB's Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Rhoades chairs the USCCB's Committee on Doctrine.
The bishops stop well short of telling U.S. Catholics to avoid the Johnson & Johnson vaccine altogether, a position also taken by other faith leaders known for their strong opposition to abortion.
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