Etiske utfordringer knyttet til bruk av vaksiner fremstilt i fostervev

Many vaccines against viral deceases are produced in cell-lines derived from aborted human fetal tissue. These vaccines, excamplified by vaccination against German measles (Rubella) which has no available alternatives, represent ethical problems. Rubella is relatively harmless on children, but gives high risk for fetal damage if pregnant women get infected. There was conducted a PubMed search to reveal scientifical material that address these challenges. Nine articles met inclusion criteria using a qualitative approach. The different approaches used for ethical analysis in these articles were summarized and the use on the current problem was compared. The most common argument identified is that by taking this vaccine one is cooperating with and profiting from past evil, and secondly one contributes to a marked demand of new unethical cell-lines to replace the existing lines. All these cell-lines have a definite life span, although this is not acknowledged by several authors. This aspect involves a just opposition against the development and production of rubella vaccines and implies a duty to encourage pharmaceutical companies and official decision makers to develop and make available ethical alternatives. To choose to omit vaccination is only permittable if it does not apply significant health risk upon unborn children specifically and society as a whole. The Norwegian Institute of National Health needs to upgrade the information on their web site addressing these matters, make an effort to make the mumps and measle compounds of the MMR available separately, and to make ethical alternatives to today’s rubella vaccination available in Norway.