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Michigan residents receiving the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine should be informed that it was developed using a stem cell line from an aborted human fetus, according to state law passed by the republicans.
The requirement only applies to vaccinations funded by the federal coronavirus relief program, which has prompted Michigan Democrats to accuse Republicans who control the state legislature of politicizing the public health effort .
In remarks reported by the Detroit Free Press on Monday, Erika Geiss, a Democratic senator, told lawmakers: “The pandemic was never meant to be political.
“It’s disappointing but not surprising that you are putting politics into this process to deter people from getting this extremely safe vaccine.”
The language requiring the notification is contained in a state bill dealing with the allocation of funds for the $ 1.9 billion economic relief program signed by Joe Biden earlier this month.
Each state legislature is responsible for the allocation of these funds. In Michigan, as Republicans and Democrats embroiled in bickering over measures that would have weakened the power of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, whom she ultimately vetoed, the “informed consent” provision nearly passed. unnoticed.
According to the Free Press, the bill states that anyone who receives a vaccine paid for up to $ 110 million allocated in relief legislation “must be informed or informed if and how the development of the vaccine used aborted fetal tissue. or human embryos. Stem Cell Derivation Lines ”.
The bill does not specify how the information will be transmitted to recipients, or who will be responsible for it. The state’s health department has updated its vaccine information website to clarify the process used by Johnson & Johnson.
“The Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine was produced by culturing the virus in fetal cells during vaccine development and manufacture (using the PER.C6 line),” the website states.
“Even though fetal cells are used to grow the vaccine virus, vaccines do not contain these cells or pieces of DNA. The mRNA vaccines (those from Pfizer and Moderna) did not use a fetal cell line to produce or manufacture the vaccine. “
According to information from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Johnson & Johnson used a retinal cell line, PER.C6, developed from an electively aborted fetus in 1985, in the development of its vaccine. The company got emergency use approval from the US government last month.
Catholic leaders and anti-abortion groups have raised objections to the use of fetal cells, a common process in vaccine development since the 1960s, including for chickenpox, rubella, hepatitis A and rabies .
Earlier this month, the Michigan Catholic Conference said the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was “morally problematic.”
The Michigan Vaccine Database reported on Monday that 3.9 million residents had received vaccines, of which less than 75,000 were Johnson & Johnson.
Vaccine “denial” has become popular among right-wing conspiracy theorists in recent weeks, gaining traction as QAnon and other extremist groups have lost hope that Donald Trump’s electoral defeat will be overturned.
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