“Campaign for Cures” to Develop an ethical COVID-19 Vaccine

John Paul II Medical Research Institute – Coralville, Iowa – USA

There are several ethical and scientific concerns about “Operation Warp Speed” vaccines. First, most of these vaccines are using an aborted fetal cell in either vaccine design, testing or manufacturing. Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines have received an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An EUA means that the FDA grants drug approval before its clinical trial is complete based on purported early results. These vaccines use a synthetic messenger RNA to produce the COVID-19 “spike protein”. The hypothesized mechanism of action of these vaccines is that neutralizing antibodies are produced against the spike protein, which, in turn, prevents infection from the entire whole virus. However, mRNA vaccines have never been approved for any prior infectious disease. While no cell line is required to produce an mRNA vaccine, aborted fetal cells were used in the testing. These two companies claim that their vaccines are over 90 percent effective.

Pfizer recently published their interim data in the New England Journal of Medicine. while Moderna’s data has not been published yet. Pfizer showed a 90 percent reduction in COVID-19 cases after the second injection compared to a placebo group. However, that protection was only monitored for 2 months. Yet, there were higher reported systemic side effects than the placebo group that includes fatigue, headaches, joint pain, fever and chills. Eighty percent of the study participants were healthy volunteers, while only twenty percent had serious chronic diseases. It is important to note from this report that we do not know how long the vaccine protection will last. Also, the report does not evaluate whether the vaccine reduces mortality; the risk of hospitalization; or viral transmission because those endpoints were not evaluated.

Further, prior vaccine efforts after the SARS 2002 outbreak led to an adverse reaction called antibody development enhancement (ADE) in animal tests in which animal subjects who were vaccinated developed more severe lung disease than those animals that were not vaccinated upon ultimate exposure to the SARS virus. Also, there is a potential risk of spike protein toxicity because there is a peptide segment of the COVID-19 spike protein that has the same sequence as in bacteria and viruses that is known to cause toxic shock. Thus, there is concern that these vaccines have been rushed to market without sufficient preclinical testing of potential side effects. Ordinarily, vaccines take years to develop. Moreover, the pharmaceutical industry is legally shielded from liability from their vaccines. 

The John Paul II Medical Research Institute has been flooded with calls around the world from pro-life individuals about the ethical concerns with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and they are asking when our vaccine will be ready. The Institute’s vaccine is in preclinical development but we are making good progress. It is highly likely that the COVID-19 virus will not go away, and the virus’ spike protein has already been mutating, which poses a risk that “Operation Warp Speed” vaccines may later become ineffective. Thus, there will be a future need to produce more effective and ethical vaccines against novel coronaviruses. 

However, the Institute needs continued financial support. We are creating innovations that are lacking in “Operation Warp Speed” vaccines. It is developing two vaccine approaches: a different subunit vaccine approach and an attenuated live vaccine. Both vaccines use an ethical human cell line that we developed. The latter approach will take more time. The former approach is anticipated to have the following innovations:

  • (1) immunity against multiple viral proteins;
  • (2) storage temperature achievable at room temperature making it easier for distribution around the globe; and
  • (3) removal of toxic shock peptide segments for greater safety. 

Thus, the John Paul II Medical Research Institute needs your support. Please donate to this research. To donate, go to
https://www.jp2mri.org.