Abstract
Although the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious public health and economic emergency, and although effective vaccines are the best weapon we have against it, there are groups and individuals who oppose certain kinds of vaccines because of personal moral or religious reasons. The most widely discussed case has been that of certain religious groups that oppose research on COVID-19 vaccines that use cell lines linked to abortions and that object to receiving those vaccine because of their moral opposition to abortion. However, moral opposition to COVID-19 vaccine research can be based on other considerations, both secular and religious. We argue that religious or personal moral objections to vaccine research are unethical and irresponsible, and in an important sense often irrational. They are unethical because of the risk of causing serious harm to other people for no valid reason; irresponsible because they run counter to individual and collective responsibilities to contribute to important public health goals; and in the case of certain kinds of religious opposition, they might be irrational because they are internally inconsistent. All in all, our argument translates into the rather uncontroversial claim that we should prioritize people’s lives over religious freedom in vaccine research and vaccination roll out.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic should not have been an unexpected event, since pandemics or large epidemics periodically occurred throughout human history (Garrett, 1994)
This means that research on vaccines linked to abortion should be prioritized if and when that maximizes the chances of having a new vaccine sooner rather than later, which at the time of writing is the case with COVID-19 vaccine research
Even if one accepted the premise that abortion is unethical and/or that using aborted foetuses to derive cell lines for research purposes is unethical, using those cell lines for research purposes is not unethical and it is ethically required
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic should not have been an unexpected event, since pandemics or large epidemics periodically occurred throughout human history (Garrett, 1994). With regard to the first, a lot of publicity, including by highly respected scientific journals (Wadman, 2020a), has been given to views expressed by some Catholic, Anglican and Greek Orthodox authorities in the USA, Canada and Australia They have condemned research on the COVID-19 vaccine that uses cell lines obtained from tissues harvested from aborted foetuses. We argue that respect for religious views and freedom should not hinder vaccine development and uptake—including the implementation of effective vaccination policies in a pandemic This means that research on vaccines linked to abortion should be prioritized if and when that maximizes the chances of having a new vaccine sooner rather than later, which at the time of writing is the case with COVID-19 vaccine research. Provide ethically compelling reasons for which the data are being released or cited, such as the need to save human lives when no other relevant data are available
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
