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Pfizer and Moderna have reported high success rates for their vaccinations against COVID-19. With these announcements and subsequent requests for approval from the Food and Drug Administration for distribution, questions regarding the ethics of receiving these vaccines have arisen.
On November 23, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a memo authored by Bishop Kevin Rhoades, the chair of the Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph Naumann, the chair of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Bishop Steven’s explanation of this memo and its importance underscores what the memo identified: the moral permissibility of receiving the vaccinations that Pfizer and Moderna have developed.
Given the technical nature of ethical arguments supporting this statement, the People of God might be searching for more information on how the USCCB came to this conclusion. The following resources from reputable sources may be of assistance for those desiring to learn more about this topic:
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- The Diocese of Trenton has published a brief article by Fr. Joseph Koopman, Associate Professor of Moral Theology at St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Cleveland, that explains the details underlying the moral permissibility of receiving the vaccines that Pfizer and Moderna have developed, while also explaining why the ethical concerns of the testing of these vaccines do not impede Catholics from receiving it.
- The statement from the Missouri Catholic Conference on COVID-19 Vaccinations further reinforces that “preserving one’s health and that of others outweighs the remote association with past abortions which were neither desired nor intended by those now using the vaccines.”
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A common refrain in these sources remains the responsibility of Catholics to advocate for ethically developed vaccinations, which our Church continues to do.
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- Catholic San Francisco features an article from Fr. Gerald Coleman that explains the 2005 Vatican Pontifical Academy for Life’s document, “Moral Reflections on Vaccines Produced from Cells Derived from Aborted Human Fetuses.” Of note, this article pre-dates the current news and the USCCB has made clear that neither the Pfizer nor Moderna vaccines included tissues from aborted fetuses during the development phases. The USCCB memo also cites Vatican sources different from the one Fr. Coleman explains.
- The Religion and Ethics section of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation offers in-depth detail about the documents that the USCCB have used in their memo on vaccinations and others. The article displays the international nature of this ethical dialogue, citing several publications from the United States, and has an addendum that explores the ethics of the AstraZenaca vaccine that poses greater moral concerns than those of Pfizer and Moderna. Regarding this addendum, the concluding paragraphs of Fr. Koopman’s article offer a helpful frame of reference.
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