No COVID Vaccine Contains Cells from Aborted Fetuses
The Claim
The Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine contains cells that originated from aborted human fetuses.
News posted on
Emerging story
In the summer of 2020, a range of Catholic leaders in America and Canada first objected to manufacturing coronavirus vaccines with cells from aborted human fetuses.
In 2021, this story reemerged when Catholic groups advised members to avoid the Johnson & Johnson vaccine specifically. The groups issued this advice because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses fetal cells more directly than prior vaccines.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation shows that there are no aborted fetal cells in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
It is true that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses fetal cell lines to grow the adenovirus that introduces the vaccine to the human body. However, CBS affiliate news station KHOU 11 states the following: “Experts say by the time the adenovirus goes in the vial, the cells from the fetal cell lines have been rigorously filtered out.”
This means that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine contains no aborted fetal cells.
Some people may still have ethical objections to getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. But our analysis has also discovered that the majority of religious leaders DO recommend getting the vaccine. Even the Vatican, which is in charge of the Catholic Church, states that it is morally acceptable to get vaccines that use aborted fetal cells in their development.
Additionally, it’s worth knowing exactly what fetal cell lines are. Since the 1960s, medical science has used cells that were originally derived from abortions in the research and manufacture of vaccines. These vaccines include the ones that people receive for hepatitis, chickenpox, shingles and a range of less common conditions.
The fetal cell lines used in the research and manufacture of the coronavirus vaccines originally come from two fetuses from 1973 and 1985. But these cells are not in the final vaccines. These cells, that date to decades ago, are still in use today as they have been multiplied many millions of times for medical research.
