Social media users have been sharing posts online claiming that the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson contains DNA from aborted fetuses as an ingredient. This claim is false.
One example of these posts reads: “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the first ingredient in J + J va ((ine [sic] is the DNA of an aborted fetus. This was today’s racist post. All of you who are passive today, get ready to see more tomorrow.”
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10107236443157031&id=33023039
The US government, on February 27 of this year, authorized the single-dose "Janssen COVID-19" vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, enabling millions of Americans to be vaccinated in the coming weeks and setting the vaccine up for additional approvals around the world.
The ingredients of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine can be seen in a fact sheet from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The ingredients are: recombinant, incompetent adenovirus type 26 containing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, citric acid monohydrate, trisodium citrate dihydrate, ethanol, 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HBCD), polysorbate-80, sodium chloride.
https://www.fda.gov/media/146305/download
The list does not include fetal cells or DNA (nor does it contain RNA, like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines). Jake Sargent, a representative for Johnson & Johnson, confirmed to Reuters via email that the vaccine does not contain “DNA from aborted fetuses.”
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines used fetal cell lines in their testing phases. Johnson & Johnson used a human fetal cell line called PER.C6, developed from retinal cells from an 18-month-old fetus aborted in 1985, in its production phases.
Fetal cell lines (not fetal tissue) are sometimes used in the development, validation, or manufacturing process of vaccines – including the COVID-19 vaccine.
https://www.chop.edu/news/news-views-why-were-fetal-cells-used-make-certain-vaccines
These fetal cell lines are not taken from recent abortions, but are derived from fetal cells from decades ago (more details hereThese cells replicate for decades in laboratory settings, thousands of times removed from the original fetal cells, becoming known as fetal cell lines.
None of the completed COVID-19 vaccines used in the US contain fetal tissue from actual fetuses, so it is not accurate to describe it as a vaccine ingredient.
https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-ingredients/fetal-tissues
For more details about Johnson & Johnson's use of PER.C6 cells to create the adenovirus vaccine, see (here).
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, confirmed to Reuters that the vaccine does not contain any traces of fetal cell lines. “Although fetal cells are used in the production of the vaccine, they are not left behind during the manufacturing process,” Adalja explained.
Science Magazine reported that cells derived from abortions have been used since the 1960s to develop vaccines such as those for chickenpox, hepatitis A, herpes and rubella, as well as drugs for diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and rheumatoid arthritis.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/abortion-opponents-protest-covid-19-vaccines-use-fetal-cells
The use of aborted fetal cells has been a source of controversy among religious leaders and anti-abortion groups.
The Trump administration worked to limit the use of human fetal cells, although President Donald J. Trump's antibody treatment after being infected with COVID-19 was conducted in the same manner, as explained by ABC News.
On December 21, 2020, the Vatican assessed that in the absence of vaccines made from other sources, it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have been developed using cell lines from aborted fetuses.
(Fact-checked article from Reuters)