Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research (NCER) opposes any government mandate imposing COVID-19 vaccination for the following reasons:
1) While some people have discerned it is ethically permissible for them to receive the COVID vaccine, the conscience rights of those who object to receiving one because of its use of cell lines remotely descended from aborted fetal tissue in the creation, production, or testing of the vaccine must be respected.
2) The bioethical principles of beneficence, justice, and autonomy require that:
-Medical treatment does no harm to the human subject or the human community;
-Basic human rights possessed by every human person must be upheld in medical treatment; and
-Human beings must be free to choose whether to participate in medical intervention without coercion.
The state risks violating these principles if it universally mandates vaccination where concerns over the short and long-term medical side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, including within the medical community, remain widespread.
NCER opposes any government mandate that would coerce those who, whether for reasons of conscience or concern for their health, do not wish to be vaccinated until those concerns are addressed.