Bristol, Tenn.—December 2, 2020— The 20,000-member Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), which is the nation’s largest faith-based healthcare organization, today announced the release of a joint statement showing physician support of ethical vaccines. CMDA joins in this statement with the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians and the Catholic Medical Association.

In response to the rapid, ongoing development of vaccines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement stresses the need for assurances of safety, efficacy and a full commitment to uncompromised ethical development. “There are many vaccine candidates under development with newer technologies that have received much attention,” the statement reads. “Sadly, many other current vaccine candidates being developed also utilize cell lines derived from aborted babies for their production.”

As a group, the four organizations cannot support the ongoing development of vaccines that use abortion-derived fetal cells. The joint statement calls for research going forward to focus on using cell lines that do not violate this basic ethical and moral standard.

“Over the past decades, more than fifty viral vaccines have been approved using an attenuated or inactivated vaccine. Many of these vaccines have not utilized abortion-derived fetal cell lines for their production” it says. “These and other ethical approaches provide encouragement for the future, where no vaccine will violate the dignity of human life in their production.”

“Developing, approving and distributing a COVID-19 vaccine is vastly important,” noted CMDA Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Bioethics Dr. Jeff Barrows, who is an OB/Gyn. “We look forward to the release of these vaccines once they have been determined to be safe by the FDA. However, we ask that companies recognize that exploiting the unborn for future vaccine development is a violation of basic human rights.”

The statement continues by saying, “It is long overdue for researchers to abandon the use of abortion-derived cells. When all approved vaccines are fully ethical, from development to production, our physician-led organizations and like-minded Americans will no longer question their use.

“We strongly encourage all healthcare professionals and those under their care to expect and demand vaccines that are safe, effective and ethically sound. Our organizations will remain committed to that goal until all vaccines satisfy those criteria.”

To access the full joint statement, visit www.cmda.org/coronavirus. For more information about CMDA, visit www.cmda.org.

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