What did Clarence Thomas say about COVID vaccines? Supreme Court justice sparks further controversy as impeachment calls grow

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once again came under fire for suggesting that COVID-19 vaccines are made from cells of “aborted children.”

The claim comes after the Supreme Court denied hearing a legal challenge by New York healthcare workers who stood against the state's vaccine mandate on religious grounds. The court maintained that all healthcare professionals would require proof of vaccination.

Shortly after, Justice Thomas wrote a dissenting opinion in favor of the petitioners. The statement read:

“They object on religious grounds to all available COVID–19 vaccines because they were developed using cell lines derived from aborted children.”

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, 16 healthcare workers from New York attempted to take legal action against the vaccine mandate on religious grounds, claiming that the development and production of the vaccines involved cell lines from aborted fetuses.

The claim was later debunked as experts revealed that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines used fetal cells from decades-old elective abortions during the early developmental stages to test the product's efficacy.

However, none of the original tissues were used in producing modern COVID-19 vaccines, as the cells were replicated several times before reaching the finished product. Hence, none of the vaccines in the United States are made using fetal cell lines or cells of aborted children.

In the wake of the latest hearing, several people called out Clarence Thomas for supporting the debunked theory surrounding aborted fetal cell lines and COVID-19 vaccines. The controversy came as a petition requesting the impeachment of the Supreme Court Justice reached nearly 500,000 signatures.

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Twitter reacts to Justice Clarence Thomas’ views on the COVID-19 vaccine

A petition to impeach Justice Clarence Thomas reached 600,000 signatures (Image via Move On)

Justice Thomas found himself in the middle of a controversy after his wife Ginni Thomas’ texts to Mark Meadows seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election results came to light.

He was later asked to resign for getting involved in his wife’s case and voting against sending the documents to the January 6 committee. When Thomas refused to resign, a petition for his impeachment was launched online.

Calls for Thomas’ impeachment intensified after he wrote a concurrent opinion following Roe v. Wade overturn and said that the Supreme Court should also reconsider landmark judgments related to same-gender relationships, same-gender marriage, and the use of birth control. He specifically left out the ruling de-criminalizing inter-racial marriages as it would impact his own.

Thomas was subjected to further criticism after saying that COVID-19 vaccines are made from cells of aborted children. Following his latest statement, several people took to Twitter to call out the Supreme Court Justice:

As reactions continue to pour in online, the Move On petition titled “Impeach Justice Clarence Thomas” reached more than 600,000 signatures. Amid the ongoing backlash, it remains to be seen if Thomas will clarify his remark on COVID-19 vaccines in the days to come.