So you think the rumor that COVID-19 vaccines contain aborted fetal cells is reason enough to not get vaccinated? Maybe you’re right. But whether you’re pro-life, pro-choice, or somewhere in-between, odds are you aren’t considering the full picture.
A little background to start. When a man and a woman love one another—. Who am I kidding, love isn’t a prerequisite. Anyway, when a sperm fertilizes an egg we get ourselves a zygote. Soon, that single cell has lots of friends and is then called an embryo. Further on down the gestational line, the future bundle of joy transitions to the moniker of fetus. Hence the term, fetal cells. It’s my understanding that people oppose fetal cell use in vaccine production—or anything, really—because of the implicit involvement of abortion.
Many vaccines are made using chicken eggs.
Do you get the yearly influenza vaccine? There’s a decent chance it was manufactured using an egg-based process. You know those Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccines you got as a child? Egg-based. You’d get a rabies vaccine if you were afraid that bat flying around your house might have bitten you before you bashed its little brains in with Brad’s your husband’s racquetball racquet. No surprise here: egg-based.
Some of the vaccines that decrease the chance of you entering an early grave are made from aborted fetal cells of a different species. So, unless you’re following in your parent’s footsteps of being an anti-vaxer, you’ve received egg-based vaccines. Eggs that could have— given the proper circumstances—produced a baby chick. Presumably you’re fine with vaccines that are produced using eggs of another species.
But I get it, you’re a bit more worried about your own species. Who wants an aborted human fetus on their conscious? Perhaps you believe life begins at conception, and terminating a human fetus, embryo, or even zygote equates to murder. That means the cluster of cells was alive—even if only inside their mother for time measured in weeks—and never got the chance at life outside the womb that it deserved. You most certainly don’t want something injected into you that is in any way connected to cells acquired through a criminal act.
Hopefully you’ve heard of Henrietta Lacks. While the poor, African-American mother of five was dying of cervical cancer in 1951, doctors took cells from her cervix without her consent. The morgue took more cells shortly after her death, as though the hospital enjoyed sovereign immunity over her body. Her immortal cell line came to be known as HeLa cells. And they changed the medical world. You read that right: immortal! Individual cells die, of course, but—even 70 years later—they have never stopped reproducing.
Henrietta’s family didn’t know that HeLa cells existed until years after her death, let alone that they were being used in medical research. These cells led to advances and discoveries that continue to this day, making Henrietta Lacks one of the most influential human beings to have ever lived. Certainly the most underappreciated. If you’ve ever used medical services, you’ve benefited from HeLa cells. Although medical related companies have made billions in profits, it wasn’t until less than a decade ago that her family got any financial reimbursement for what was essentially the theft of her cells.
We’ve all benefited from the theft of Henrietta Lacks’ cells. Why can’t we likewise benefit from the murder of a fetus?
Remember, the fetuses have already been aborted. No changing that; what’s done is done. They didn’t get to experience the luxuries of breathing polluted air, or experiencing fear and loss like billions of people before them have. But, they can still be worthwhile. Those small clusters of undifferentiated cells can exert an altruistic effect on a world they never got to delight in. Is it not better to improve the lives of every current and future human, than to have no good at all come from your limited existence?
Here’s the truth regarding COVID-19 vaccines and aborted fetal cells. Fetal cell lines are used in development, production, and/or confirmatory tests of COVID-19 and other vaccines (e.g., hepatitis A, rubella, shingles). These decades old fetal cell lines are used:
- to confirm that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are taken up by cells and used as a blueprint to make a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
- to grow the adenovirus used in the viral vector vaccines, but are filtered out during the vaccine production process.
Much like HeLa cells, aborted fetal tissue cells were copied in the lab to make cell lines that can be used indefinitely. These cell lines that have been around for decades were used in tests to confirm the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna) work, and to make the adenovirus vector for the J&J vaccine. These lines are thousands of replications removed from fetal tissue, so none of the COVID-19 vaccines actually contain aborted fetal tissue. Rest assured, you won’t be initiated into Hillary Clinton’s infamous cult of baby ingesters when you get your COVID-19 vaccine.
So, you still think the rumor that COVID-19 vaccines contain aborted fetal cells is reason enough to not get vaccinated? If you’re going to use an excuse not to get the vaccine, at least this one has a semblance of truth to it. We’re talking a “Hubble Ultra-Deep Field” distant semblance of truth. But that’s still infinitely more plausible than the belief in a Bill Gates’ microchip conspiracy. Wait a minute . . . Melinda must have tracked Bill’s RFID microchip, discovered he was having an affair, ultimately leading to their impending divorce. It makes so much sense now! So, I guess, yeah, come to think of it . . . You’re Probably Right.
[043] May 26, 2021