That particular claim certainly is. At least according to most pro-life organizations, the Catholic Church, and others.
There were no fetal stem cells used to develop or produce either of the mRNA vaccines on the market today. After production and testing were completed by Pfizer and Moderna, they’re required to have their work verified by an independent third party as part of the FDA’s review process for the Emergency Use Authorization. The third party chose to use fetal stem cells in their verification process.
What the Catholic Church and others have said is that this doesn’t taint the vaccines since they were completely produced end to end without the use of fetal stem cells. What the article does is throw a smear in there with zero explanation. Which I would assume is what prompted your question asking what that meant?
Yes, it did.
Thank you for your courtesy of reply and clarity of explanation.
Welcome to FR.
The antecedent technologies used to produce the vaccines, without which their development would have been impossible, were developed using fetal cell lines.
The “Catholic Church”, of which I am a traditionalist member, has been issuing liberal and leftist oriented advice on various matters for some years. I feel sorry for contemporary Catholics who assume they are getting genuine Catholic advice from the Vatican. They aren’t.
That's not a true statement. Fetal stem cells were used to develop the spike protein used in both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. And whether it's the pharmaceutical company or a "third party", fetal stem cells are still being used for quality control.
So it's false to say the vaccines aren't tainted by abortion.