US Bishops Discourage Catholics From Receiving Johnson & Johnson Vaccine If Alternatives Available Over Abortion Link

Home base primary care Pharmacist Erin Emonds logs onto a computer before filling syringes with the allotted number of doses for the at home visits for the day at the US Department of Veterans Affairs' VA Boston Healthcare System's Jamaica Plain Medical Center in Boston, Mass. on March 4, 2021. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released a statement on March 2 encouraging Catholics to avoid getting the latest adenovirus vector COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson if alternatives are available.

In Thursday’s statement, Bishop Kevin Rhoades, chairman of the conference’s Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chairman of the conference’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, recommended Catholics get the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna over Johnson & Johnson, if possible, because the latter adenovirus vector vaccine was developed with the help of abortion-derived cell lines.