Improving the odds for an ethical vaccine

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | May 20, 2020

If a vaccine for CO19 become available in the coming months, would you be comfortable taking a vaccine that was derived from:

• placental cells,
• tobacco leaves,
• bone marrow,
• insects, or
• the dismembered bodies of aborted children?

This is not a purely theoretical question. You may face that sort of choice.

Which approach do you want the government to fund? Now would be a good time to express your preference to the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Don’t think that you need to write a persuasive essay. A single sentence is enough to convey the message. Yes, your input may be reduced to a checkmark on a sheet of paper. But these officials answer to elected politicians, and everyone who has won an election knows the importance of checkmarks.

Then—this is important—contact your family doctor. He’ll be under tremendous pressure, the instant a vaccine becomes available. Make sure the ethical questions are on his mind before that pressure builds.

Addendum: You might say that you would prefer to take no vaccine at all. I understand; I agree. But a vaccine is going to be developed. So the question is still relevant: What kind do you prefer?