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As you look at the video above, you will see that a whooping-cough epidemic has broken out in this country. The State of Texas has the worst of it; they are under a health alert. Already two babies have died. Medical authorities are appealing in various states for parents to vaccinate their children. More children may die because of the failure of parents to vaccinate their children.
I can only think, “Here we go again!” I have written more than one blog post dealing with the non-Christian idea that opposes faith to science. Because of the false idea that science and faith are opposed, many Christian parents have stopped vaccinating their children. When challenged they respond either with Bible verses that supposedly speak that we are to have faith, or they cobble together a series of arguments that appear to show that vaccination is worse than not vaccinating your children. In every case, there are both eisogetical and logical errors backing those very wrong conclusions. If all else fails, there is a very American ideal that gets cited. Somehow God does not want anyone to be able to speak into your family situation so that only the parents have anything to say about their children. If anyone dares to say anything, somehow they are violating God’s institution of marriage and the family. Both Holy Tradition and Scripture contradict this viewpoint.
Unfortunately for those parents, there is an empirical reality check. It is a reality check that indicates whether their thinking is correct. That reality check is that the more parents that do not vaccinate their children, the more that preventable childhood diseases return to the USA. Sadly, it is the children who pay the price for the mistaken thinking of the adults. Sadly, various Christian parents will speak of the need to have more faith or really true faith. Sadly, other Christian parents will quote discredited studies to continue to claim that it is worse to vaccinate their children. Sadly, for those parents, they will not be able to understand why their child is sick, why their ideas are ever so wrong.
Sadly, those very same parents with their unnecessarily sick children will help to contribute to the view that theologically conservative Christians are fools.
So, I have chosen to write again. I have little hope anymore that I will change minds. But, there are children who will pay the price. So, if I can even change the opinion of one parent, it will be worth it. Please vaccinate your children. It is the godly thing to do.
Gosh, it sure would have been nice for you to cite some sources. This is so vague and generalized that it doesn’t even merit posting.
3 things, most teens and adults have not had a pertussis booster and are even more likely than anyone to spread the disease to children and infants; diseases mutate; and MOST importantly the vaccine has changed since you and I were children and is not considered effective.
1)http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473309902003080.pdf?id=f1b40765af4fa604:-1fb13996:1410350a9c6:-31f11378742130660
2)http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(06)70384-X/fulltext
3)http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/pertussis-vax-effectiveness/
They say the ‘new’ vaccine, in use for about 20 years now has fewer than 15 years (and really they’re thinking closer to 9 to 11 years) of efficacy.
Many people choose not to vaccinate independent of their religious or lack of religious affiliations. If you are hinting that you feel like Christians are foolish for disregarding science or just relying on made up opinions, you could not have made your point more forcefully.
Hmm, though I am a priest, I am a Laboratory Manager at a hospital. I have a post-baccalaureate licentiature in blood banking. I have published research in blood banking in Transfusion magazine.
If you were to watch the video again, you would see two things. One, they acknowlege the need for revaccination. Two, they also make the point that a good part of the problem has to do with failure to vaccinate. Three, I mention that I have done previous posts on the subject and that I am dashing this one off without much hope anymore of being listened to. The previous posts have previously cited more statistics.
You could not have “made your point more forcefully” that many people never read a blog post in depth before they dash off a reply.
Maybe you should link them in the post rather than leave it to folks from other links to go digging through your site. Also, laboratory management and blood banking isn’t exactly infectious disease management. As a mother who vaccinates, I find the post to be over the top in its criticism of Christians who choose not to vaccinate.
Parents are in a bad place when it comes to vaccination. Vaccine makers cannot be sued. The vast majority of physicians rely on information from the vaccine makers themselves when making recommendations. As to discredited studies, some are used by other nations’ courts (with equivalent standards of science and studies) as evidence of wrong doing on the vaccine makers part. Either there is more to it than we are led to believe or European standards of medicine are hit and miss (and considering the same countries are pioneering stem cell organ replication, like growing tracheas- I highly doubt it).
When you travel to a third world country, one is often required to get vaccinations to prevent diseases that are prevalent or at least pose a serious risk when traveling to those countries. When I went to Indonesia, I was required to get a Malaria vaccine, Hepatitis A and B vaccinations, and one for Yellow Fever in addition to my routine vaccinations. The CDC wants to hold two conflicting opinions, the first is that herd immunity can be wrecked if a small percentage doesn’t vaccinate and the second is that when traveling in areas rife with disease that vaccinations will be the magic bullet to protect you. They cannot have it both ways. Maybe the pertussis vaccine just isn’t working.
There are various threads to your comment that I cannot fully deal with without writing another post altogether. I will agree that I might have posted some links to my previous posts. See the answer to the next comment and you will see that I have begun to do that.
You make a serious error when you say that laboratory management is not exactly infectious disease management. As it turns out, every month I make a report to the monthly meeting of the medical staff on the number of methycillin resistant staph aureus, vancomycin resistant enterococci, and legionella. The office of the MRSA nurse is three doors down from my office. My microbiology section is charged with growing the very microbes that epidemiologists are concerned about. Every medical laboratory has a close partnership with the epidemiologist on staff.
The particular study that I cited about autism and vaccines was first published in a British publication, The Lancet, and withdrawn by that very publication. The CDC in the USA is the agency in the USA that deals with vaccines and efficacy along with the FDA. While I realize that some practitioners do rely on drug manufacturers for information, I would simply say that this is an old-fashioned practice, not current best practice. To try to argue that this somehow allows patients to not vaccinate, in the face of increasing epidemiological evidence for what happens when herd immunity is not maintained is to indeed ignore the scientific evidence.
Further, there is no contradiction between herd immunity and requesting individual vaccination from travelers. In passing, my wife and I were missionaries and have lived in two non-USA Third World countries. Herd immunity is the concept that if enough people are vaccinated, a non-vaccinated person has a high chance of not catching a disease. Requesting vaccinations of a person traveling to a Third World country is precisely the acknowledgement that many Third World countries have NOT achieved a high enough level of vaccinations to allow a traveler to rely on herd immunity.
Finally, to simply claim that some other countries allow lawsuits without citing any articles, is to simply commit the same error of which you accused me when you said that I had not cited articles.
Do you have any further questions?
Fr. Ernesto,
Why is it that no one the United States can be against “unethical” vaccines without being labelled anti-science (as you mention, pitting faith against science.
Perhaps, we might ask ourselves why many other countries make vaccines from cell lines not grown on or associated with vaccines made from cell lines grown fetal tissue from aborted babies (or precisely “aborted fetuses”).
How about ethical vaccines?
http://soundchoice.org/ethical-vaccines/
http://www.cogforlife.org/
Pro-Life Physician & Pharmacists Database
http://www.cogforlife.org/prolifephysicianlist.htm
Good question! I have actually dealt with that question before, see https://www.orthocuban.com2013/02/christians-vaccinations-and-ethics/. I have not claimed that Christians that are against vaccines from fetal cells are anti-science. I have said that this is a very legitimate concern that deserves a reasoned answer. See the post I cited to see my more reasoned answer. That is a different matter than those who refuse to vaccine based on bad science plus bad moral reasoning. Read the article, and you will see what I mean.
Fr. Ernesto,
Thank you for the reply. I have read and re-read the article you provided (and this article as well).