The Catholic position on vaccination
This paper will aim to provide clarity and assurances to Catholics about Church teaching andmoral issues regarding vaccination. It will demonstrate the Church’s support for vaccination
to protect the most vulnerable of our society, especially those affected byimmunodeficiency, pregnant women and their unborn children. Finally, it will addressconcerns regarding the development of future vaccines, including those regarding theChurch’s teaching on vaccination raised by Catholics during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Safety and solidarity with the most vulnerable
The Catholic Church strongly supports vaccination and regards Catholics as having a prima
facie duty to be vaccinated, not only for the sake of their own health but also out ofsolidarity with others, especially the most vulnerable. We believe that there is a moral
obligation to guarantee the vaccination coverage necessary for the safety of others. This isespecially important for the discovery of a vaccine against COVID-19.
Avoidance of vaccination carries with it dangerous and potentially grave consequences forthe most vulnerable in society, and we recognise the anxiety which this is causing to thosemost at risk.
Concerns have been raised by some about potential side effects of vaccination. We echo thewords of the Pontifical Academy for Life published in a 2017 document, published incollaboration with the "Ufficio per la Pastorale della Salute" of Italian Bishops' Conference
and the "Association of Italian Catholic Doctors", which commented:‘From the clinical point of view, it should also be reiterated that treatment withvaccines, despite the very rare side effects (the events that occur most commonly aremild and due to an immune response to the vaccine itself), is safe and effective. No
correlation exists between the administration of the vaccine and the onset ofAutism.’ 1

Moral obligations and objections
The Church is opposed to the production of vaccines using tissue derived from aborted
foetuses, and we acknowledge the distress many Catholics experience when faced with achoice of not vaccinating their child or seeming to be complicit in abortion.
Nevertheless, the Church teaches that the paramount importance of the health of a childand other vulnerable persons could permit parents to use a vaccine which was in the pastdeveloped using these diploid cell lines.
In 2005 the Pontifical Academy for Life published a document titled, ‘Moral reflections onvaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human foetuses.’ The document details

1 ‘Note on Italian vaccine issue’ (2017), Pontifical Academy for Life, http://www.academyforlife.va/content/pav/en/the-academy/activity-academy/note-vaccini.html (accessed 26.11.19)

the moral objections towards vaccines which have been prepared from cells derived fromaborted human foetuses.
We support the Pontifical Academy for Life’s belief that ‘all clinically recommended
vaccinations can be used with a clear conscience and that the use of such vaccines does not
signify some sort of cooperation with voluntary abortion.’ 2
If a pregnant woman, for example a teacher in a school, comes into contact with
unvaccinated children, unfair and complex moral decisions may be imposed upon her,including whether it would be safe for her to work during her pregnancy. Exposure tounvaccinated children could incur serious consequences, the gravest of which include athreat to the lives of the mother and her unborn child.
The Pontifical Academy for Life also clearly states the moral obligations which we have as asociety to vaccinate in order to protect the health of the most vulnerable. It distinguishes
between the work to prevent the unethical production of vaccines and the harms arisingfrom non-vaccination:‘There remains a moral duty to continue to fight and to employ every lawful means inorder to make life difficult for the pharmaceutical industries which act unscrupulouslyand unethically. However, the burden of this important battle cannot and must not
fall on innocent children and on the health situation of the population - especiallywith regard to pregnant women.’ 3
The Church distinguishes between the present unethical sourcing of vaccines and the use ofhistorical cell-lines which were derived from aborted foetuses in the 1970s.
Human society has often benefitted from the wrongs done in the past for which we must
repent. We live with the benefits of very questionable medical experimentation. For
example, Edward Jenner, who invented vaccination, conducted research by injecting an 8year old boy with cowpox followed by smallpox. While today such experimentation would
be unethical by any standards, we wouldn’t deny life-saving vaccination because of its
dubious historic provenance.

Covid-19
The Catholic Church prays for and encourages all those who are seeking to find a vaccine
against this destructive virus.
We hope that the ethical sourcing of such a vaccine is possible. In spite of assurances given
in June 2019 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary
Care that "the Department is not aware of any new vaccines being produced using human
diploid cells", we are now seeking clarity on this matter because of new evidence.

2 ‘Note on Italian vaccine issue’ (2017), Pontifical Academy for Life

3 ‘Moral reflections on vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human foetuses’ (2005), Pontifical Academy for

Life, https://www.ncbcenter.org/files/1714/3101/2478/vaticanresponse.pdf (accessed 15.1.20)

Conclusion
We hope that this document has been helpful in providing clarity and assurances about themoral issues regarding vaccination and we encourage Catholics to commit to protecting themost vulnerable in our society, one method of which is effective vaccination.
Bishop Paul Mason (Lead Bishop for Healthcare)
Bishop John Sherrington (Lead Bishop for Life Issues)