Can someone explain to me why some Catholics have a moral objection to vaccines

[PaulfromIowa]

The above posters have stated great reasons for opposition to vaccines.

In addition to those, I am opposed to mandated vaccines. My sister almost died from a flu vaccination she received five years ago. Thank God she lived. She still has lingering health problems because of this.

Do you know how many millions of people have died in influenza epidemics, before vaccines?

 

[unstoppable_II]

Do you know how many millions of people have died in influenza epidemics, before vaccines?

Yes. We’ve been over this ground before … several times. The first one I became aware of involved a child who contracted polio as a result of the vaccine. Parents sued. In the trial, the evidence showed that it was known that there would be several cases out of every so many 100 thousand. The court decided that the risk was negligible considering the number who didn’t get the illness and would have if there had been no vaccine. There are no solutions, only trade-offs.

 

[Rau]

It has never entered my mind that vaccines might be though immoral until I read one of the posts in this thread (thread). This is due to my parents being completely for vaccines and I have never heard the other side of the story. Please keep arguments within Catholic teachings.

Thanks and God Bless!

I have never heard before the suggestion that Catholics in particular have a (moral, or otherwise) objection to vaccines, medicines or medical treatments in general. Here I exclude those “medical treatments” explicitly taught to be illicit.

Objections to vaccines are widespread, crossing all manner of social and religious boundaries, but are limited to a small percentage of the population. Noone likes the idea that vaccines are needed, but most people agree our lives would be poorer should they not be available to us. Witness history.

Most objections I’ve heard rest on a belief that the vaccine may, in some cases, cause harm. This is true of all medical treatments. The evidence is the risk is very low, far lower than would be the case were vaccines to be unavailable.

There is no anti-vaccine Catholic doctrine of which I am aware.

 

[thistle]

It has never entered my mind that vaccines might be though immoral until I read one of the posts in this thread (thread). This is due to my parents being completely for vaccines and I have never heard the other side of the story. Please keep arguments within Catholic teachings.

Thanks and God Bless!

Its not clear to me if you are asking about the morality of how vaccines are made or simply about vaccinating or not vaccinating.
If its the latter vaccination is completely moral and frankly I think it should be compulsory.
I also feel that parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated should be prosecuted if their children become disabled or die from a disease that can be prevented by vaccination and also should be prosecuted if their children pass the disease on to others.

 

[genevieve2K]

The Children of God For Life website has a lot of information about this issue cogforlife.org/vaccine-overview/. The basic problem is that a few vaccines are produced on cell lines derived from aborted fetuses. Currently in the US, the rubella, hep A, and varicella vaccines are produced on these cells and ethical alternatives are not available. So some people choose not to vaccinate because they do not want any complicity, however remote it may be, in those abortions. This is an issue my husband and I have had to struggle with every time one of our children has been due to get vaccinated. So far we have chosen to vaccinate, but also to speak out against the immoral vaccines, largely based on advice from a priest we trust and this statement from the Pontifical Academy for Life: cogforlife.org/vaticanresponse.pdf (read the whole thing, but if you can’t, summary is on last 2 pages). Also this from the National Catholic Bioethics Center ncbcenter.org/page.aspx?pid=251. Here are other pro/con statements from doctors and priests that you can read: cogforlife.org/vaxyesno.htm

 

[unstoppable_II]

The Children of God For Life website has a lot of information about this issue cogforlife.org/vaccine-overview/. The basic problem is that a few vaccines are produced on cell lines derived from aborted fetuses. …

Abortion is everywhere. It has gotten to the point where you can’t take a Sunday walk without supporting abortion somehow. The USCCB donated $7 million * to ACORN, thinking the organization was helping the poor. They found out the organization was helping themselves. When the lid was blown off their operation by Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, a money flow chart was published. It was so convoluted that the bishops must have funded abortion and not known about it.*

 

[AnnieHall]

Did the shot contain mercury or formalydihide? It wasn’t poison…it was the treatment. It wasn’t a vaccine, was it?

I am still trying to figure out how mercury prevents measles or chicken embryos prevent…hepatitis or whatever else they give vaccines for.

If I may, I recommend reading some information from the CDC regarding thimerosal (the mercury containing preservative that used to be used in some vaccinations).

What is thimerosal? Is it the same as mercury?
Thimerosal is a mercury-containing organic compound and has been used for decades in the United States and other countries. It’s use as a preservative in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines, to help prevent potentially life threatening contamination with harmful microbes.
Mercury is a metal found naturally in the environment and affects the human body differently than thimerosal.

Is thimerosal safe for people?
Yes. Thimerosal has been used safely in vaccines for a long time (since the 1930s) and has a proven track record of being safe. A variety of scientists have been studying the use of vaccines that have thimerosal in them for many years. They haven’t found any actual evidence that thimerosal causes harm.

Does thimerosal cause autism?
No. Research does not show any link between thimerosal and autism.

Why was thimerosal removed from vaccines given to children?
-Although no evidence suggests that there are safety concerns with thimerosal, vaccine manufacturers have stopped using it as a precautionary measure.The only vaccine that still includes thimerosal as a preservative is the multi-dose inactivated influenza vaccine. There are other formulations of flu vaccine that do not include thimerosal.
-In 1999, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was required by law to assess the amount of mercury in all the products the agency oversees, not just vaccines. The U.S. Public Health Service decided that as much mercury as possible should be removed from vaccines, and thimerosal was the only source of mercury in vaccines.
-Thimerosal was removed from all childhood vaccines in 2001 with the exception of inactivated flu vaccine in multi-dose vials. However, thimerosal has been removed from all single-dose preparations of flu vaccine for children and adults. There has never been thimerosal in live attenuated flu vaccine or recombinant flu vaccine. No acceptable alternative preservative has yet been identified for multi-dose flu vaccine vials.

Do all flu vaccines contain thimerosal?
No. Influenza (flu) vaccines are currently available in both thimerosal-containing and thimerosal-free versions. The total amount of flu vaccine without thimerosal as a preservative has increased over time. This year, about 2/3 of flu vaccine that is manufactured for the U.S. will be thimerosal-free.

Was thimerosal used in all childhood vaccines?
No. Some other vaccines, including the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR), do not and did not ever contain thimerosal or any preservative. Varicella (chickenpox), inactivated polio (IPV), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have also never contained thimerosal.

cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/Thimerosal/thimerosal_faqs.html

Hope this helps!

 

[wcknight]

I have never heard of any vaccines made from stem cells,

If they are not I think it is more immoral for folks NOT to get themselves or kids vaccinated. Suppose your unvaccinated kids contracts measles or some other deadly disease and they die, or perhaps worse they spread it to someone else and they die !!!

I would think you should be liable or held accountable for your inaction as the cause of someone else’s death.

We all have a responsibilty for the general welfare of ourselves and our neighbors. If we are negligent in our duties, then we should pay the price for that neglect.

 

[Rau]

It has never entered my mind that vaccines might be though immoral until I read one of the posts in this thread (thread). This is due to my parents being completely for vaccines and I have never heard the other side of the story. Please keep arguments within Catholic teachings.

Thanks and God Bless!

Can you explain to me why some Anglicans have an objection to vaccines?

 

[thebiag]

unfortunately some vaccines are derived from MRC 5 and WI 38
they are defined below and include in the following
The vaccines that contained these two ingredients include:

Adenovirus
DTaP-IPV/Hib (Pentacel)
Hep A (Havrix)
Hep B (Engerix-B)
Hep A/Hep B (Twinrix)
MMR (MMR-II)
MMRV (ProQuad)
Rabies (Imovax)
Varicella (Varivax)
Zoster (Shingles – Zostavax)

MRC-5 (Medical Research Council -5):

“The MRC-5 cell line was developed in September 1966 from lung tissue taken from a 14 week fetus aborted for psychiatric reason from a 27 year old physically healthy woman. The cell morphology is fibroblast-like. The karyotype is 46,XY; normal diploid male. Cumulative population doublings to senescence is 42-48. G6PD isoenzyme is type B.”

Source: Coriell Institute for Medical Research

And

WI-38 (Wistar Institute-38):

“The WI-38 cell line was developed in July 1962 from lung tissue taken from a therapeutically aborted fetus of about 3 months gestational age. Cells released by trypsin digestion of the lung tissue were used for the primary culture. The cell morphology is fibroblast-like. The karyotype is 46,XX; normal diploid female. A maximum lifespan of 50 population doublings for this culture was obtained at the Repository. A thymidine labelling index of 86% was obtained after recovery. G6PD is isoenzyme type B. This culture of WI-38 is an expansion from passage 9 frozen cells obtained from the submitter.”