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DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) – Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque issued a statement to help answer questions Catholics in eastern Iowa may be asking about whether they can, in any good conscience, receive the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Janssen pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson.
The statement reads as follows:
“Originally, it did not seem necessary to make a statement on the Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) vaccine; any message would be essentially the same as what was said in December 2020 regarding other vaccines.
However, some Catholics are a little confused as to whether they can get the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. So, some clarifications are in order:
Yes Catholics have a choice of which COVID vaccine to receive, they must choose the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine over the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Why?
Because Johnson and Johnson used cell lines from the fetal tissue of an aborted baby in the production of their vaccine, while Pfizer and Moderna only used them for laboratory testing.
It’s a subtle distinction. All three companies used these ethically compromised cell lines; it’s just that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, because they have only had limited use, are further from the harm of abortion than the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
However, if Catholics do not have a choice of which vaccine to receive, it is morally acceptable for them to use the Johnson and Johnson vaccine against the serious health risk of the coronavirus.
In this regard, it seems that at present and for the foreseeable future, no one is offered the choice of vaccines.
Additionally, as noted above, there is currently no COVID vaccine available that does not utilize these abortion-derived cell lines in design, development, production, and / or laboratory testing.
So, if Catholics have the opportunity to be vaccinated and have no choice of vaccines, they should gratefully receive whatever is available; the earliest would be best.
The common good of protecting public health from a contagious and potentially fatal virus outweighs any reservations Catholics might have about treatment with any of the available vaccines.
Michael jackels
Archbishop of Dubuque ”
Copyright 2021 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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