Moderna use of aborted fetal tissue:

Posted on: November 9, 2021 at 23:46:49 CT

https://cogforlife.org/guidance/

(additional links on original page)

Fetal cell line: The HEK293 cell line (info here) originated from a healthy aborted child in the 1970s, age unknown.

Did Moderna use the HEK293 fetal cell line in research? Yes, they did in the research and development of the vaccine.

* In March 2020, researchers explained in Science journal that they expressed the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation using HEK293 cells. That means they made the spike protein so they could study it, and they used HEK293 cells as the medium to express it in.
* In this preliminary report from July 2020, researchers explain in the supplementary appendix that ACE-2-overexpressing 293T cells were used in a neutralization assay to detect the presence of antibodies, a test to make sure the vaccine works as it should.
* This August 2020 preclinical trial report in Nature journal also explains that researchers transfected HEK293 cells to test expression. That means they added the vaccine in each step of development to the cells to see if they produced the protein as expected. This is the in vitro (in the lab) mRNA expression test.
* This U.S. patent for the in vivo (in the body) production of proteins explains a similar test, including testing the mRNA encapsulated in the lipid for delivery into the body. Again, they needed to see if the vaccine was stable and worked as expected.

Does Moderna use HEK293 fetal cell line in ongoing quality control testing during manufacturing? No, they answered that they do not.

Also see:

Measuring Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine: Now’s the Time to Press Hard for Ethical Options (National Catholic Register)
Moderna Does Not Use HEK-293 Fetal Cell Line in Ongoing Quality Control or Lot Testing | Children of God for Life (cogforlife.org)

Edited by JeffB at 23:51:51 on 11/09/21