Ask Father: Vaccines

Dear Father: What is the Church’s position on using drugs and vaccines derived from voluntary aborted fetus?

Dear friend in Christ,

If a vaccine is available that was not derived from abortion, the Catholic must choose that. If one is not available, the Church essentially leaves it up to the individual’s conscience.

(A quick note about conscience: following my conscience does not mean “doing what I want to do”; it means carefully considering and praying about an issue before making an informed moral decision.)

The National Catholic Bioethics Center states “one is morally free to use a vaccine, despite its historical association with abortion, if there is a proportionately serious reason for doing so. In practice, the risks to personal and public health could permit its use. This is especially important for parents, who have a moral obligation to protect the life and health of their children and those around them.”

The following articles also offer helpful information on this issue:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6699053/

http://www.academyforlife.va/content/pav/en/the-academy/activity-academy/note-vaccini.html

https://www.ncbcenter.org/resources-and-statements-cms/faq-on-the-use-of-vaccines?rq=2005