As I understand it, many Christians have concerns about ethics of the COVID vaccines – particularly, concerns that the vaccines may derive from abortions in some way or another. In general, Christians (myself included) object to benefitting from abortion in any way that might involve contributing to it or condoning it.

Given that, what about the COVID vaccines? As it turns out, the answer depends somewhat on which vaccines, and what one means by derive from abortions. I wrote about some aspects of vaccine ethics previously, but here I want to explain the key concerns as I see them. I don’t think that Christians will universally agree as to the right answer here, meaning that it’s particularly important to carefully lay out the issues so people can make an informed decision.

Ideally, of course, we’d like to see vaccines developed that don’t benefit from abortions (or abortion-derived fetal tissue) in any way whatsoever, but the reality is rather more complex – both in vaccine development and in other aspects of modern medicine. In many cases, modern medical research tests products for safety on human cell lines (often, “immortal” cell lines) which have been around for decades. This testing is done to ensure safety before trials in humans. Some of these cell lines originate from long-ago abortions, so we need to take a look at how they are used.

Cell lines in research

As I noted in my prior post, much of modern medical research uses cell lines (especially, HEK 293) derived from an abortion done in 1973 in the Netherlands. These cell lines are used in testing some of our vaccines for safety; indeed, these cell lines are used frequently in a broad range of scientific research for similar reasons. A variety of other cell lines, some from similar sources, are also used in modern medical research.

Another cell line which comes up in this context is the PER.C6 fetal cell line, derived from a 1985 abortion, also in the Netherlands. This ends up being used in production of viral particles in the lab in some studies, and we’ll come back to it below.

Development, testing and production of vaccines

As we think about how severe our reservations might be in this regard, we might want to consider that different steps in the vaccine deployment process could invoke different concerns. Here are three stages we might want to consider:

  • Background research: What research laid the groundwork for development of this vaccine?
  • Development: How was the vaccine developed/discovered initially?
  • Testing: How as the vaccine tested for safety before it went into humans for the first time?
  • Production: How is the vaccine actually manufactured?

Depending on how we view the issue of abortion and abortion-derived cell lines, we might come to different conclusions about how concerned we should be in these different cases. I imagine most of us have no objections if we use medical technologies today which use science based on background research done on abortion-derived cells. Each step down that hierarchy means abortion-derived cells more immediately relate to the vaccine going in to our arm; at the extreme end is production, where abortion-derived cells might be used to actually make the specific dose of vaccine going into our arm.

I imagine that some Christians will likely object to only the later stages of this hierarchy, and many will differ about where they draw the line. I suspect that relatively few think it necessary to avoid benefitting at all from research done on abortion-derived cells, since this means they’d have to carefully research each and every new medicine or medical technology they use (and all of the background research which went into its discovery and development) to curate the science which went into it. This gets into territory which reminds me of Matthew 7:1-5 and its injunction to “…first take the log out of your own eye…”; I’m fairly certain all of us are guilty of far greater and more direct sins than any sin involved in benefitting from a series of scientific discoveries whose background involved a long-ago wrong. But, each of us needs to make our own decision in terms of where to draw the line.

What about our specific vaccines?

The vaccines we have available now all use abortion-derived cells in some way, but at two different stages. Particularly, the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines use extremely similar technology and both used HEK 293 cells in the testing stage of vaccine development, to help ensure safety. The other option currently approved in the US is the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine, which is a one-shot vaccine; this uses abortion-derived cells in the production of the vaccine.

Given this, I think it’s entirely possible that some Christians might conclude they are OK with the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines but not the J&J one, because these raise somewhat different concerns.

Concerns with the Pfizer/Moderna vaccines

Regarding the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccine, by being vaccinated you’re simply benefitting from research which was done using cells derived from long-ago abortions. Now that the science is done, the vaccine already exists, and no abortion-derived cells are used in producing the specific dose which goes into your arm. Everything before that is simply history or background research. While Christians may differ on this point, I don’t see much distinction between taking a vaccine which was developed or tested with abortion-derived cells and using any other medical technology which used abortion-derived material somewhere in the underlying research: In every case, the research is the history, and while I might have regrets about how it was conducted, I can’t change that history. Instead, I’m simply asked to decide whether taking this vaccine or declining it is better for society – or at least, that’s how I see it; as noted, Christians may differ on this point.

Concerns with the J&J vaccine

In contrast, the J&J vaccine brings concerns one step closer to the present. By being vaccinated, one is taking in content actually produced by abortion-derived stem cells. That may not concern you, but some may indeed find it very concerning, because it’s no longer just a matter of history. Now, abortion-derived cells (even though they are from an abortion done long ago) are actually used to make that specific dose going into your arm. By taking the vaccine, you’re directly benefitting from the use of those cells. That may raise more concerns for many.

Weigh the issues carefully

I think it’s important that every Christian with concerns about these issues weigh the relevant issues carefully. While I have my own ideas on what’s appropriate here (and I’m sure you can guess what they are from my post), I don’t want to be prescriptive. The Bible is clear that we each need to listen to our own conscience and, if we go against our conscience, we may be sinning. My conscience can’t free you up to take the vaccine; you need to do your own wrestling with these issues.

I do think, however, that it’s important to deal with the reality we face, rather than the reality we would like to face. Of course, we’d like to face a reality where we have safe vaccines that in no way are based on abortions, or, even better, not to even face a pandemic. However, we’re instead still facing a pandemic which has the potential to kill people we want to protect, and we have the luxury of a choice between several extremely safe vaccines. If we decline vaccination, we could risk bringing harm to someone else; if we are vaccinated, we might feel we bear some partial responsibility for a past wrong (and our different options might involve different degrees of culpability). How do we balance these issues? I think each of us needs to earnestly examine the facts and the Bible and get God’s help in making the best decision possible, even though there is no perfect option.