Vaccines: Their Biology and Morality
Measles killed 145,700 people in 2013, and the pre-vaccine death tolls were much higher. It's one of the leading causes of death among young children worldwide, primarily in areas where vaccination is not widespread. (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs286/en/) There's a safe and effective vaccine available, but some people are refusing it on pro-life grounds. It sounds confusing - refusing to receive a vaccine for a deadly disease because you're pro-life? Read on and I will attempt to address this for you.
Our bodies protect us against pathogens (disease-causing agents such as viruses) in a number of complex, beautiful ways. One way of categorizing these methods is by categorizing them as "innate" or "adaptive" immunity. In adaptive immunity, a pathogen is recognized by immune cells in the body, which create immune cells specific to that pathogen to "remember" it for later. (http://www.biology.arizona.edu/immunology/tutorials/immunology/page3.html) The cells that recognize and protect against pathogens do it by recognizing specific protein components of these pathogens, called "antigens". An antigen by itself cannot reproduce inside the body and cause infection the way a complete cell or viral particle can, so we develop vaccines by isolating the antigens from a particular pathogen and introducing them into the body as part of a vaccine. This process allows our immune systems to develop adaptive immunity to a pathogen without being exposed to the dangerous illness itself.
In order to get these isolated antigens, we must grow the pathogen somehow - we allow it to reproduce, then we destroy it and take out the parts we want. Measles immunization is given as part of a triple-punch vaccine called MMR, containing antigens from measles, mumps, and rubella. We can grow antigens for measles and mumps using chicken eggs, but rubella is more complex and can't be grown in that way. To get a rubella vaccine, we have to use actual human cell lines. Currently, the cell line used to grow rubella vaccines is called WI-38 and is derived from human fetal lung tissue. (http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/human-cell-strains-vaccine-development)
The WI-38 cell line was isolated at the Wistar Institute in the 1960s. Research on embryonic cell lines here led to Leonard Hayflick's most important contribution to science: the Hayflick Limit, or the maximum number of times a parent cell can divide before it ages too much to reproduce at all. Storing human cells in very low temperatures can subvert this limit and allow them to reproduce indefinitely, and the WI-38 cell line was one of the first produced using this technique. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0014482765902119)
How did Hayflick obtain this fetal tissue? A Swedish woman received an abortion for medical reasons at the end of her first trimester. (http://www.nature.com/news/a-culture-of-consent-1.13262) Why does this matter? Many people believe that by using vaccines developed in this cell line, they will be contributing to the "culture of death" surrounding abortion. (It should be noted that the antigens for rubella are entirely isolated for vaccine production - no human tissue remains in the vaccine when it is distributed for use.)
The Vatican has written at length about these issues. At the heart of the matter is the principle of "licit cooperation in evil": are we participating in an evil act by using a vaccine grown in fetal tissue? The Vatican's official position is that we must object to these vaccines and refuse them if - and that's a big "if" - alternatives are available. But, it is only right to refuse them "if it can be done without causing children, and indirectly the population as a whole, to undergo significant risks to their health". (http://www.immunize.org/concerns/vaticandocument.htm) The duty to avoid "passive material cooperation" is not obligatory if there is a "grave inconvenience". "[We] find, in such a case, a proportional reason, in order to accept the use of these vaccines in the presence of the danger of favouring the spread of the pathological agent, due to the lack of vaccination of children." The Vatican emphasizes this case specifically for "German measles" - rubella - due to "congenital rubella syndrome", a devastating disease affecting unborn children whose mothers are exposed to rubella (even if the mother does not develop symptoms). The Vatican even goes so far as to say that if a mother refuses a rubella vaccination, she becomes morally responsible for the malformation and possible subsequent medical abortion of her child - heavy stuff!
The science is clear: vaccinations against measles, mumps, and rubella are safe and effective. They save the lives of millions of children every year. The Vatican has clearly stated that while Catholics and those opposing the culture of abortion have a moral obligation to advocate for ethical alternatives to embryonically-derived vaccines, they are also obligated to use those vaccines to protect themselves and their children. The evidence on all sides is clear: vaccination is the pro-life thing to do.
With measles currently making its way through the United States at an unprecedented rate since the introduction of the vaccine - almost entirely due to unvaccinated children (http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html) - it is more important than ever to spread this message far and wide. Pro-life parents have a moral obligation to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases, especially if there is a significant chance that they will be exposed to those diseases. The recent outbreak in California (initiated by unvaccinated children at Disneyland) is spreading rapidly throughout the country. We should follow the advice of our doctors and our priests and protect our children.
Yours in Christ,
JWS
(Jason Smith is a graduate of Harrisburg University with a degree in biotechnology. In his senior structural bioinformatics project, he developed a method for generating reliable computer models of an entire family of proteins at one time. He is currently enrolled in the biochemistry Ph.D. program at the University of the Sciences.)
For additional writing from members and associates of the St. Gabriel Respect Life group, see below:
https://stgabrielcarlisle.squarespace.com/our-pro-life-views-1/