Opposition party calls on church to rethink position on vaccines

Poland's Left (Lewica) opposition party has called on the country's episcopate to back down from its position that Covid-19 vaccines are made of human foetuses.

An expert team for the Polish Episcopal Conference on Bioethics presented a position on Wednesday in which it claimed the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs caused serious moral objections because they use cells created from biological material gleaned from aborted foetuses.

The episcopate stated, however, that despite its reservations, these vaccines could be used by the faithful who have no other choice of vaccine.

But the Left said that telling people that vaccines are made of foetuses is absurd and that the party expects the Church to stand on the side of civilization and to tell people to get vaccinated.

Speaking at a press conference Beata Maciejewska, deputy leader of the party’s parliamentary club, appealed to the bishops to "stop confusing people's minds."

"We are in the middle of a pandemic, yesterday over 680 people died, and experts at the Polish Episcopal Conference on Bioethics say that it is better not to use some vaccines, they say it is possible to choose a certain vaccine," Maciejewska said. "We, the Left, do not agree with such a narrative."

She pointed out that Poles who are queuing for vaccines often cannot choose which one they get, and that the Church has a huge influence on the country's faithful.