DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) – Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque issued a statement to help answer questions that Catholics in eastern Iowa may have if they can, in good conscience, receive the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals. ale Johnson & Johnson.
The statement has the following content:
“Initially, it did not seem necessary to make a statement about the Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) vaccine; any message would be essentially the same as what was said in December 2020 about the other vaccines.
However, some Catholics are a little confused if they can get the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. So, some clarifications are needed for:
If Catholics are given the choice of which COVID vaccine to receive, they should choose Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Why?
Because Johnson and Johnson used cell lines from the fetal tissue of an aborted child in the production of his vaccine, while Pfizer and Moderna used them only for laboratory testing.
It is a subtle distinction. All three companies used those ethically compromised cell lines; only that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, because they used only limited use, are far removed from the evil of abortion than the Johnson and Johnson vaccines.
However, if Catholics are not given the opportunity to choose which vaccine to receive, it is morally acceptable for them to use the Johnson and Johnson vaccine against the serious health risk of coronavirus.
In this sense, it seems that now, and for the foreseeable future, no one is offered a range of vaccines.
In addition, as mentioned above, there is currently no COVID vaccine available that does not use those abortion-derived cell lines in design, development, production and / or laboratory testing.
So if Catholics have the opportunity to be vaccinated and are not given the opportunity to choose, they should gratefully receive all that is available; The sooner, the better.
The common good of protecting public health against a contagious and life-threatening virus takes precedence over any reservations that Catholics may have about treatment with any of the available vaccines.
Michael Jackels
Archbishop of Dubuque ”
Copyright 2021 KCRG. All rights reserved.