Northern Ireland

Department of Health says 'any link between any vaccine development and abortions is incidental and remote'

The Department of Health has encouraged everyone in the north to get vaccinated. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire
The Department of Health has encouraged everyone in the north to get vaccinated. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire The Department of Health has encouraged everyone in the north to get vaccinated. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire

THE Department of Health has encouraged everyone in the north to get vaccinated as it insisted that any link between vaccine development and abortions is "incidental and remote".

Robin Swann's department was responding following a meeting between a delegation of Free Presbyterian ministers, headed by former health minister Jim Wells, and the Chief Medical Officer Sir Michael McBride and Chief Scientific Advisor Ian Young.

Mr Wells said the purpose of the meeting was to register the concern of people who feel unable to avail of the three coronavirus vaccines currently on offer because they are tested "on the cell lines of aborted children".

The South Down MLA said he had been contacted by many evangelical Christians and "devout Roman Catholics" who wanted to be vaccinated but shared his moral objections.

"It would boost the number of people in Northern Ireland who were vaccinated in Northern Ireland if an ethical vaccine could be made available – the delegation was not in any way anti-vaccination," he said.

Mr Wells urged the Department of Health representatives to explore the possibility of acquiring Covaxin and Sinopharm, two vaccines that he said "had no connection with abortion".

South Down MLA Jim Wells
South Down MLA Jim Wells South Down MLA Jim Wells

Mr Wells said soon after the meeting the Scottish government announced it was considering the procurement of another "ethical" vaccine, called Valneva.

"It would appear that it had the power to make its own decision on this issue and if Valneva was made available there this would offer many people in Northern Ireland to access an ethical vaccine relatively easily," he said.

A Department of Health spokesperson described the discussions as "constructive and detailed".

"The department continues to encourage everyone in Northern Ireland to get vaccinated without delay to benefit from the protection which the available vaccines provide," the spokesperson said.

They added that "any link between any vaccine development and abortions is incidental and remote".

"It has involved the use of cell lines grown in labs, having been replicated from fetal cells obtained decades earlier," the spokesperson said.

"These cell lines can survive indefinitely in the laboratory, and in their current form have only a very remote link to the original cells. Their continued use in relation to vaccines and cancer research does not lead to a demand for more fetal tissue."

The spokesperson said that in the case of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, there was no use of fetal-derived cell lines in either design and development or production of the vaccines.