A vaccine watchdog group has raised concerns about Health Canada approving a human clinical trial for a Chinese coronavirus vaccine that uses aborted fetal cell lines in its development. The vaccine, Ad5-nCoV, was discovered by Chinese scientists and is scheduled imminent testing in Canada.
The vaccine Ad5-nCoV uses the HEK293 cell line that is derived from aborted fetal cells. The HEK293 cell line was developed and is owned by Canada’s National Research Council (NRC). On May 12, the NRC announced it would work with the Chinese firm CanSino Biologics Inc. to test and develop Ad5-nCoV in Canada. CanSino worked with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology to develop the vaccine. Chinese clinical trials began in March.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the collaboration and said if the clinical trials are successful, he is hopeful that “we can produce and distribute it here at home.” He added that the research would take time and “must be done right.”
The CBC reported that Canadian clinical trials will involve 600 people and be carried out by the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Dr. Scott Halperin, director of the Centre, told CTV that because of the coronavirus pandemic, his team will not wait for full results from one stage to proceed to the next, but rather conduct the tests “in a more accelerated fashion, without sacrificing any safety.” Normal safety protocols are being suspended to get a vaccine to market as quickly as possible. He envisions the third and final stage of testing to begin in late summer or early fall.
Forbesmagazine reports that the average time it takes a vaccine to reach market is 10-15 years. Trudeau and other world leaders are talking about not fully reopening the economy and schools until a vaccine is ready for widespread use and optimistically state it could be ready by mid- to late-2021.
Ted Kuntz, president of Vaccine Choice Canada (VCC), a not-for-profit society founded by families who have suffered from vaccine reactions or injuries, said the source of the vaccine should “be a concern” for everyone and that rushing a vaccine to market could do more harm than good. Kuntz told LifeSiteNewsthat “bypassing standard and prudent safety protocols and rushing a vaccine to market not only increases the risk of producing a product that will cause more harm than good, it has the very real potential to severely undermine trust in our health professionals, our health agencies, and in the entire vaccine paradigm.”
Ad5-nCoV is the world’s first coronavirus vaccine to be approved in human clinical tests.
