False: COVID-19 vaccines are made from aborted fetal cells.

By: Ranjini K
January 29 2021

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None of the Covid -19 vaccines contain cells from an aborted fetusesCOVID-19 vaccines have been at the center of misinformation and disinformation since before they were rolled out. One of the most widely spread claims state that COVID-19 vaccines contain cells from the lung of an aborted foetus. However, the claim is false, and information regarding the development of the vaccine has been misconstrued. Part of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is created by growing a modified virus in cells originally derived from embryonic kidney tissue from an abortion performed in the 1970s. However, the vaccine does not “contain” this cellular material. The viral molecules grown in these cells are chemically and physically separated from the cells they were incubated with and did not make it into the final product. Cells from the foetus have been replicated over the decades, creating what’s known as cell strains. So the actual cells used in the manufacture of this vaccine are not directly from a foetus. These cells originate from a fetus that was aborted in the Netherlands in 1973. The fetus was aborted legally at the time for other reasons and not for vaccine research purposes According to Politifact, "The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine takes the form of a modified virus that trains your immune system how to identify cells infected with the coronavirus, Matthews explained. The modified virus is grown in the HEK 293 cell line. These cells are then purified away to "exceptionally high standards" to create the vaccine." Furthermore, there are reports that Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines used fetal cell lines for confirmation tests. These are different from fetus tissue or cells. These cell lines are grown in a laboratory and descend from cells taken from abortions in the 1970s and 80s. As noted in The Nebraska Medicine, fetal cell lines are thousands of generations removed from the original fetal tissue. While fetal cell lines are used to develop the vaccine, it is false to say that the vaccine itself contains cells from foetuses. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.