You’ve no doubt heard many things about the coronavirus vaccines that are currently being rolled out.
Many of you have contacted us here at Focus on the Family with questions about the vaccine, so today on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Covid-19 Vaccines: What You Need to Know” we want to get the information you need to keep you and your family safe and healthy.
Focus on the Family has 35 medical professionals who comprise our Physician’s Resource Council and who guide our ministry’s health content. I’ve invited two of them to join me today to answer the most common questions we’re hearing from our listeners. They are both infectious disease specialists.
Dr. Daniel Hinthorn is a board-certified physician at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Dr. Scott James is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.
We’ll discuss questions such as:
- Are they safe?
- What are the risks?
- What about vaccines with fetal cells from abortion?
- How long does the vaccine last?
- Should we take the vaccine to protect others, especially those at risk?
- Do we continue with masks/handwashing even after receiving the vaccine?
- What about Christmas plans with family?
- Should we trust the government’s guidelines?
- How bad could the pandemic have been if government protocols hadn’t been followed?
- Where could the pandemic be heading in the months ahead?
While I know there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the issue of vaccines, I believe we can thank God for this provision. Even through this challenging time, God is working and will work all things for good.
Tune in to the program on your local radio station, online, on Apple Podcasts, via Google Podcasts, or on our free phone app.
In addition, I want to call your attention to an excellent document prepared by the Council.
COVID-19 Vaccines
A Statement of the Physicians Resource Council of Focus on the Family
As of late 2020 there have been more than 74 million reported cases of COVID-19 globally, with more than 1.6 million deaths worldwide.
While much is still unknown about the disease, our understanding of ways to treat and prevent it continues to grow. One widely anticipated means of reducing the spread of COVID-19 and helping society move back toward normalcy is the development of a vaccine.
Vaccines work by taking a part of a virus or bacteria (known as an antigen) and presenting it to the body’s immune system so that it stimulates an immune response. Antigens can be introduced directly, using killed or weakened viruses, or through molecules like mRNA which provide instructions for cells in our bodies to produce the antigen. These antigens prime the immune system so that when it encounters a particular invader, such as a virus, it “remembers” it and is ready to mount a rapid defense.
It is hoped that vaccines will prove effective in curtailing the spread of COVID-19, although there are still many questions about them. While reports of safety and efficacy for recently approved vaccines are promising, a concern that is often discussed in the pro-life community relates to the use of aborted fetal cell lines in the development and manufacturing of vaccines.
Two fetal cell lines that are being used in the development and production of several COVID-19 vaccines are HEK293 and PER.C6. HEK293 was derived from a fetus that was aborted in 1972. PER.C6 was isolated from an abortion that occurred in 1985. (No ongoing abortions need to be performed for these cell lines to be maintained.)
The good news is that some pharmaceutical companies are working on vaccines that do not rely in any way on aborted fetal cell lines. Others are making vaccines that are not produced in aborted fetal cell lines, although these cell lines have been used for certain testing purposes. These manufacturers include Moderna, along with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, whose mRNA vaccines are synthesized in the lab and are not produced using cells of any kind.[i]
Unfortunately, aborted fetal cell lines are being used by some vaccine manufacturers in the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines. These include, but are not limited to, the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen, which uses PER.C6, and AstraZeneca’s vaccine, using HEK293.
The use of these cell lines is a matter of ethical concern to many people of pro-life conviction, and has made some hesitant to accept vaccines produced using fetal cell lines.
Human life, from conception to natural death, should be treated as sacred and never be devalued. Vaccine manufacturing, following the best ethical practices, should not have to rely on abortion at all. The Physicians Resource Council of Focus on the Family expresses its gratitude to those vaccine developers that do not use aborted fetal cell lines, and calls upon all manufacturers to use methods and technologies that value life.
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Calvin Rome says
-Most viruses are 99.9+% survivable. COVID-19 virus is 99.9% survivable across all age groups. Why do we need a unproven/untested vaccine which really is not a vaccine but a DNA modification means. Modifying our God designed DNA into a GMO DNA is an abomination to GOD. All who take this “vaccine” will live to regret it and those who encourage others to sin in this manner will have to answer for it on judgement day.
Tim says
-(Un)fortunately, you have no idea what you are talking about. The vaccine does not change your DNA. Your rejection of truth is an abomination to God.
Kailey says
-Though the article states that “ Moderna, along with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, whose mRNA vaccines are synthesized in the lab and are not produced using cells of any kind”, are any of the manufacturers utilizing cells from electively aborted fetuses in their “testing”, and not just necessarily their “production”? (It has been discovered that several vaccine manufacturers utilize fetal cells from ongoing elective aborted fetuses in their testing of various vaccines.)
Janessa says
–So I think the article is unclear…do Moderna and Pfizer use the aborted cell lines to test their vaccine or do they not use the cell lines at all?
Regina says
-I am speechless. Not paid Doctors by you, but paid by Pharma. I have spent the last 2 years researching vaccines after our child had a vaccine injury. ‘Injuries are very rare’ can be parroted over and over until the eyes are opened to see them all around.
Kat says
-Agreed!
Timothy Gamber says
-Thanks for vaccine update! Question, is a vaccine needed after being sick with the coronvirus?
Charles says
-When they stormed the beaches of Normandy to push back fascism they knew that some would die and that many would be injured. But they also new that by their actions many, many more would live and that a great darkness would eventually lift. Vaccines are like that, they play a numbers game. If ten are injured so that a million may live then that’s a pretty good deal.