Talk of COVID vaccines has taken center stage. As with all vaccines, pro-lifers want to know whether they are produced with a cell line from an aborted baby.
An analysis from Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), part of the Susan B Anthony List family, is on top of the issue and has produced an easy to understand summary of information to help you make an informed choice.
Funded by President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, eight COVID vaccines are advancing toward distribution. Each was scientifically analyzed by CLI experts to determine whether production and testing involved abortion-derived cells.
Pfizer and Moderna, the two most mentioned vaccines, joined other companies and did not use aborted cells in the production of their vaccines. On the other hand, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson used exclusively cells of aborted babies in their development. When utilized for production, the controversial cells are directly involved in making the final product, the vaccine that is injected in our arms.
When it comes to laboratory testing, at least six of the drug companies needlessly created a hurdle for American families wanting to avoid an abortion connection. They either used abortion-derived cells or utilized both abortion-derived cells and those not linked to abortion; two of the companies have not yet reported their testing process and the analysis was unable to determine either way.
According to Dr. David Prentice, VP and Research Director at Charlotte Lozier Institute, the testing process is another step removed from production of the vaccine for a recipient. “When an abortion-derived cell line is used in laboratory testing, that is not done within the production line.” He added, “It’s a confirmatory test done on the final vaccine, to validate what the scientists believe they’ve produced. The product is used to vaccinate mice or cells in culture, to verify a response.”
A new chart tracking each companies’ activities was produced by CLI for easy reference.
Four pro-life doctor groups have reported that two lead COVID vaccines—Pfizer and Moderna—did not use cells from aborted babies to develop their products. Still, false or misleading accusations have circulated, casting aspersions regarding Pfizer’s vaccine.
One is that their two-dose treatment isn’t safe for pregnant or nursing women because they were excluded them from clinical trials. But in reality, all vaccine trials exclude pregnant women and infants out of an abundance of caution, not because of any known risk.
Dr. Prentice explains the other. “A couple of doctors in Europe filed a claim with the European Medical Agency to stop the Pfizer trial because of potential fertility concerns.
“It started with a statement by Oxford Prof John Bell, who said: “These vaccines are unlikely to completely sterilize a population. They are very likely to have an effect which works in a %, say 60 or 70%.” By “sterilize” he means to rid the population of the virus and make the people immune, but the phrase was seized on by scaremongers who went looking for any connection to sterilization in terms of fertility, and thought they had found a protein similarity.
“They claimed a supposed similarity between the virus spike protein (the virus protein against which most of the COVID-19 vaccines are raised, not just Pfizer’s) and a protein that is expressed in the developing placenta called syncytin-1. They theorized that if the vaccine caused antibodies against spike, those might cross-react with the placental protein and inhibit placenta formation, causing infertility. But their evidence is faulty and claims unfounded.
“We did our own protein database check on similarity of the two proteins and found that it was minimal. And the region of the proteins where the supposed similarity was found is actually buried in the protein structure, covered up so that it can’t cause an antibody reaction. The region of the spike protein against which antibodies are formed has no similarity to the placental protein.”
CLI will continue to follow the science and keep you abreast of new developments. As you make decisions concerning vaccines, be informed about making the best choice possible.
Sincerely for LIFE,