Government politely ignores archbishops on COVID

The government has shut the church leaders down fairly firmly.

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Three Sydney archbishops have written to the federal government raising ethical concerns about the use of a cell line from an aborted fetus in the production of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, which is being purchased for Australia.

The government has shut the church leaders down fairly firmly, saying that replicating a cell line is a highly ethical way to do research… (and that cells lines do not have feelings…)

The Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine is still undergoing testing, but the federal government entered into a deal last week with AstraZeneca in to secure 25 million doses for Australians in case it works.

Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher and Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia Archbishop Makarios sent a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to reconsider the deal.

Harvesting fetal tissue was “deeply immoral”, the religious leaders said. Their congregations might have to refuse the vaccine on ethical grounds if there were no alternatives, they warned.

“The reality for vaccines is that they need cell cultures in order for us to grow them,” Deputy Chief Health Officer Nick Coatsworth said in a press conference.

“The human cell is really important part of their development, and clearly in the process for the Oxford vaccine, which is one of the leading candidates for COVID-19 vaccines, that was an important part of that process.

“There are strong ethical regulations surrounding the use of any human cell, particularly fetal human cells, and this is a very professional, highly powered research unit at Oxford University, one of the world’s leading universities, so I think we can have every faith that the way they have manufactured the vaccine has been against the highest of ethical standards internationally.”

The COVID-19 vaccine was developed using a kidney cell line (HEK-293), which was taken from a legally aborted fetus many decades ago.

This is very common in medical research; human cell lines are used as a packaging system to make viral proteins found inside vaccines.

“It’s not like people are using a new cell line,” Professor Colin Pouton from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences told the ABC.

“It’s already there, so in many respects the ethical issue is in history.”

If you see something stupid, say something stupid… Send COVID vaccine fan mail to felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au