The NCBC offers this service free of charge!
The average personal consultation costs the NCBC about $50. A donation of $100 covers the cost of two free consultations!
COVID Vaccine Mandate & Exemption Consultations
General Notes about COVID-19 Vaccine Exemptions
· The NCBC does not provide medical or legal advice
· Neither NCBC nor the Catholic Church “grant” (approve) exemptions to vaccine mandates. The approval or denial of requests is a legal matter involving individuals and their employers or other mandating entities.
· The NCBC does not sign exemption requests. It is our understanding that no signature other than the person’s own signature should be required in any case, even though many employers may be requesting a signature from a religious leader. Legal advice is strongly recommended on any questions about the process for filing an exemption request or the legal standards for approval or denial of exemptions, including questions about signatures from religious leaders.
· The NCBC’s exemption template letter can be modified and personalized as appropriate to reflect the individual’s own sincerely held conscience judgment and reasoning. Permission from NCBC is not required to use and modify it.
NCBC Resources on COVID-19 Vaccines, Mandates, and Exemptions
Points to Consider on the Use of COVID-19 Vaccines
Statement on COVID-19 Mandates
Vaccine exemption template letter
Vaccine exemption resource for individuals
Legal Resources on Vaccine Exemptions
Note: These are links to external sites that contain information that may be helpful to those with questions about the process for filing exemption requests and other legal considerations, including questions about signatures from religious leaders. They do not imply NCBC's endorsement or agreement with all content.
Church Resources on COVID-19 Vaccines
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Note on the Morality of Using Some Anti-COVID Vaccines (December 2020).
CDF, Instruction Dignitas personae (2008), nn. 34-35, pertaining to the use of biological material of illicit origin (e.g., abortion-derived cell lines)
USCCB Doctrine Committee’s Moral Considerations Regarding the New COVID-19 Vaccines
USCCB Pro-Life Committee’s Answers to Key Ethical Questions About COVID-19 Vaccines
Resources on the Use of Abortion-Derived Cell Lines (ADCLs) for Vaccines and Other Products
The National Catholic Bioethics Center does not research and maintain its own official up-to-date list of the abortion-derived cell lines and their connection with vaccines or any other medical product. The NCBC relies on other organizations, like the Charlotte Lozier Institute and the Children of God for Life, for this type of information. Here are links to resources the NCBC commonly uses and suggests for finding information on which cell lines were used in which products.
Charlotte Lozier Institute – COVID-19 Vaccines
Charlotte Lozier Institute – All Non-COVID-19 Vaccines
Children of God for Life – COVID-19 Vaccines
Children of God for Life – All Non-COVID-19 Vaccines
Children of God for Life – Major Abortion-Derived Cell Line List with History and Uses
Medical and Legal Advice Disclaimer
The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) is a nonprofit research and educational institute committed to providing education, guidance, and resources to the Church and society to uphold the dignity of the human person in health care and biomedical research. The NCBC provides consultations to institutions and individuals seeking its guidance. Neither the NCBC's moral analyses nor any other project of the NCBC should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal or medical opinion or otherwise to engage in the practice of law, medicine, or other health care disciplines.
Scope of Service Disclaimer
NCBC offers this personal consultation service to answer questions about real situations involving ethical problems or dilemmas. Requests outside the scope of this service may not receive a reply. Some examples of requests outside the scope of personal consultation include:
Research-oriented requests
Questions about hypothetical situations
Requests for help with academic papers
Statements or descriptions of experiences without any ethical question