Washington, DC — American Life League joined with Children of God for Life in praising GlaxoSmithKline for producing an ethically sourced shingles vaccine that was just recently approved by the FDA for licensing in the US. Shingrix is produced using a yeast cell line. Previously, the only available shingles vaccine, Zostavax, used aborted fetal cells.
ALL president Judie Brown stated:
America’s leading authority on ethical vaccines, Children of God for Life, issued a statement this morning that sounds a clarion call to one and all that there are such things as ethical vaccines and companies working to improve vaccines. The newest shingles vaccine, Shingrix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical company, does not employ the use of human embryonic cells and does—according to its own studies—maintain 90 percent efficacy in those 70 years of age and older who were involved in the clinical trials.
GSK’s efforts to create an ethical vaccine for adults comes with a challenge to all other big pharma companies that have not met the call to manufacture similarly manufactured ethical vaccines not tainted with fetal cells from aborted babies. It can be done! We await the advent of additional vaccines that meet this standard.
We ask the public to thank GSK by writing to:
Patrick Desbiens, Senior Vice President
GSK US Vaccines
5 Crescent Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19112
American Life League was co-founded in 1979 by Judie Brown, a three-time appointee to the Pontifical Academy for Life. ALL is the oldest national Catholic pro-life education and advocacy organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.ALL.org or call 540-659-4171.