The U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Conference (USCCB) has launched a letter-writing campaign to protest pharmaceutical companies’ use of abortion-derived cell lines in the development and testing of vaccines. The Vatican “urges everyone concerned for the sanctity of life to protest the use of abortion-derived cell lines and advocate for the development of vaccines with no connection to abortion,” the bishops’ website declares . “To make it easier to take this action, we provide the following sample letters to pharmaceutical companies that are using abortion-derived cell lines to produce and/or test vaccines,” the site states, while furnishing links to 7 different sample letters to be written to the management of the companies primarily responsible for producing vaccines. In its sample letter to Moderna’s chief medical officer, Tal Zaks, for instance, the bishops urge Catholics to thank Moderna for making its coronavirus vaccine available to the public but to make known their opposition to Moderna’s use of a cell line derived from an aborted baby in testing the vaccine. “I am respectfully urging Moderna to stop relying on such cell lines,” the sample letter states. “Please understand that as one of your potential customers, I believe it is immoral to use abortion-derived tissues and/or cell lines in the production, testing or manufacture of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products,” the letter adds. “If I have the opportunity to receive an alternative vaccine that has no connection to abortion, I will choose that vaccine instead of Moderna’s vaccine,” it continues, noting “non-abortion-derived cell sources are available or could be made available.” “Had Moderna instead chosen to use a cell line with no connection to abortion, it would have eliminated a significant moral dilemma now faced by substantial numbers of people,” it states. The bishops invite Catholics to close by “respectfully but strongly” urging Moderna, as well as the other pharmaceutical ...
Coronavirus vaccine
White House launches media effort to promote coronavirus vaccines
The White House on Monday launched a targeted media campaign to raise awareness about vaccine eligibility and encourage Americans to get vaccinated as states open up doses to all Americans over the age of 16. Top Biden administration health officials are participating in roughly 30 local news interviews across the country, according to a White House official, focusing on markets that have lower vaccination rates in order to boost confidence in vaccines. Some health officials will also participate in national interviews. The officials include the top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci Anthony Fauci Waters: Fauci 'was being bullied' by Jordan during hearing Whitmer: State won't close down again following GOP lawsuits Sunday shows - Fauci dominates with remarks on vaccines, boosters, masks and Jordan MORE , White House senior adviser on coronavirus response Andy Slavitt, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra Xavier Becerra Trump looms over Senate's anti-Asian hate crimes battle NIH reverses Trump administration's ban on fetal tissue research Overnight Health Care: Johnson & Johnson delay prompts criticism of CDC panel | Pfizer CEO says third dose of COVID-19 vaccine 'likely' needed within one year | CDC finds less than 1 percent of fully vaccinated people got COVID-19 MORE , Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine Rachel Levine Alarm grows over impact of states banning trans youth treatment Overnight Health Care: Senate confirms Levine for HHS, first openly transgender official | Progressives up pressure on Biden to back COVID vaccine patent waiver | Former Operation Warp Speed chief fired over sexual harassment allegations Senate confirms first openly transgender official, approving Levine for HHS MORE , Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Vivek Murthy Surgeon General's son interrupts morning TV interview Biden administration unveils network of community leaders ...
WHO does not support mandatory ‘vaccine passports’
The World Health Organization (WHO) does not currently support the use of "vaccine passports" for travel because of concerns of equity, an agency official said Tuesday. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO's emergencies program, said he's concerned such a requirement could exacerbate vaccine equity issues. He told reporters that the WHO supports vaccine certificates as a way to provide a health record for people who have been vaccinated, but the issue takes on a different consideration if certificates are used to attend work, school or to travel. ADVERTISEMENT Ryan said until more countries have equal access to vaccines, it wouldn't be ethical to require proof of vaccination for travel. "We already have a huge issue of vaccine equity in the world. The imposition of requirements for certification of vaccination before travel could introduce another layer of such inequity," Ryan said during a press briefing. "If you don't have access to vaccine in a country, you become isolated as a country as vaccine passports kick in." Ryan also noted there are still lingering questions around whether vaccines can prevent the coronavirus from being transmitted. He said agency working groups are continuing to discuss the matter, and the recommendation may be revisited. Ryan's comments echoed those made by a WHO spokeswoman earlier Tuesday. According to Reuters, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris also said the agency does not back vaccine passports for travel. "We as WHO are saying at this stage we would not like to see the vaccination passport as a requirement for entry or exit because we are not certain at this stage that the vaccine prevents transmission,” she said, according to Reuters . ADVERTISEMENT “There are all those other questions, apart from the question of discrimination against the people who are not able to have the vaccine for one reason or another.” Talk of vaccine passports in the U.S. has sparked ...
China Moves to Approve Pfizer Vaccine After Admitting Chinese Product Doesn’t Work
The Chinese drug company Fosun Pharma filed for approval to distribute the Chinese coronavirus vaccine developed by American company Pfizer and European partners BioNTech in China, state media noted on Sunday, a sign that Beijing increasingly distrusts its homemade products. Fosun is a formal partner with Pfizer and BioNTech and invested in the initial stages of developing a coronavirus vaccine with the two. Fosun and Pfizer initially tested rival versions of the trio’s products, leading to studies that found the Pfizer product to be superior. The version of the vaccine currently approved in the United States and used around the world is the Pfizer version of the test product, believed to be 95 percent effective in preventing coronavirus infections. Fosun reportedly contracted to buy 100 million doses of the vaccine in December, despite being a co-owner of Sinopharm, a Chinese company that developed its own homemade vaccine candidate currently in international distribution. The Pfizer vaccine uses novel mRNA technology – introducing a protein that appears on a coronavirus cell, but not the virus itself – to prompt the body to generate antibodies and prevent infection. Chinese media’s announcement that the vaccine may soon be available in China follows an admission last week by the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control (CDC), Gao Fu, that the Chinese-made products currently being used to immunize in the country “don’t have very high protection rates.” It also follows warnings that China is vaccinating its population too slowly, largely the product of Chinese citizens distrusting their local biotechnology companies after enduring multiple incidents in which vaccine manufacturers have distributed ineffective products or otherwise sickened people. The state-run Global Times newspaper claimed that the purchase of the Pfizer product, which it meticulously referred to as the “BioNTech vaccine” before admitting it was the product “widely ...
WHO panel comes out against requiring vaccination proof for travel
A World Health Organization (WHO) panel last week came out against any requirements that travelers show proof of their COVID-19 vaccination in order to enter certain countries, highlighting its concern that such measures would aggravate inequities. WHO’s Emergency Committee released a statement on Monday detailing its members’ advice to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, including to avoid any mandate for people to prove they took the vaccine before traveling into countries. The panel specifically cited concerns about inequity as the vaccine remains less available in certain areas and nations, especially countries that could not afford to collect a large stockpile of vaccine doses. Others, such as the U.S., invested heavily in vaccinations and built a supply that President Biden Joe Biden Graham: 'I could not disagree more' with Trump support of Afghanistan troop withdrawal Obama, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley team up to urge communities of color to get coronavirus vaccine Biden to hold second meeting with bipartisan lawmakers on infrastructure MORE reiterated last week is enough to vaccinate the American population. ADVERTISEMENT “Do not require proof of vaccination as a condition of entry, given the limited (although growing) evidence about the performance of vaccines in reducing transmission and the persistent inequity in the global vaccine distribution,” the committee’s recommendation reads. “States Parties are strongly encouraged to acknowledge the potential for requirements of proof of vaccination to deepen inequities and promote differential freedom of movement.” The Emergency Committee also called attention to sailors who may be blocked from crossing international borders due to requirements to prove they got the vaccine. “Special attention should be paid to seafarers who are stranded at sea and who are stopped from crossing international borders for crew change due to travel ...
