Vaccine controversies are public debates around the medical, ethical and legal issues related to vaccines. These controversies have occurred since almost 80 years before the terms vaccine and vaccination were introduced.
Here in the Pacific North West, both in Vancouver and now in Portland, a Measles outbreak has occurred of late. There have been 50 confirmed cases and more suspected. The PNW is also a center for anti-vax parents who, for many reasons, refuse to vaccinate their children against the common or now mostly not common at all childhood diseases.
(Personal note: In spite of WCG sentiments on immunizations, I personally took responsibility for the immunizations of my two children in the 1970's and had them vaccinated according to schedule. When members asked for the exemption forms I always asked them if this was their own conscious decision or were they feeling they had to not vaccinate due to church "teachings"? Some asked if I "minded" if they went ahead with getting their children immunized and always told them that was their decision and had nothing to do with me (or the church in reality). On the entire topic of doctors and medicine, I always encouraged, in some cases begged, members to get to their doctor and hospital if need be. I'd anoint them there and later and especially quickly if it involved their children. My lifelong "ministerial" view was that while an adult can make any faith filled medical decision they wish FOR THEMSELVES, they should not make those kinds of decisions or exhibit their own faith FOR THEIR CHILDREN. I only mention this so those who would like to criticize me for my past coming this conclusion NOW will understand it has ALWAYS been my conclusion and I lived it with my own family and congregations from the start. As is the custom of some, their projections of their own experiences on to myself would be mistaken)
Because of this rare but aggressive outbreak of Measles here in the PNW the controversy about not only parents withholding vaccinations because of religious beliefs but also for the belief, real or imagined of the dangers of doing so has erupted afresh.
On top of that there is a new phenomenon now of children old enough to think it through up through teens getting vaccinated on their own without parental permission or even knowledge of doing so. The availability of information both pro and con is much more available to children and teens now through their own devices than anything we, as children, ever had access to. Some adults whose parents, when young who also withheld vaccinations, are also leaving the guilt, lack of information or choice their parents enforced on them and getting themselves vaccinated as advised.
Parents and adults can live their adult faith for themselves however that expresses itself.
Whether it be immunizations or medical care, no parent has the right to inflict their faith, as if it were also a child's faith, in such matters. With proper medical and doctor advice and counsel, this should not be the problem some few parents, both in a religious context and the ever present conspiratorial context make it out to be.
If a parent has the faith, for the child, to not protect their child with vaccinations, perhaps they could have the faith to protect them with them?
After all, how many times has one said "And bless and cleanse this food to the nourishment of our bodies"
Proverbs 17:22
If a merry heart makes GOOD like a MEDICINE, perhaps the Bible at least admitted to the benefit of MEDICINE long before WCG came along
Just sayin'
Proverbs 17:22
If a merry heart makes GOOD like a MEDICINE, perhaps the Bible at least admitted to the benefit of MEDICINE long before WCG came along
Just sayin'
When I was a teenager, I spent all my babysitting money on vintage clothes, Manic Panic, and clove cigarettes. I thought I was so cool, but I was nowhere near as cool as the Ontario teen who took her health into her own hands and went and got herself vaccinated against the wishes of her anti-vaxxer parents.
Her mother, of course, was furious, and turned to Reddit’s /r/legaladvice forum to ask whom she was allowed to sue about this. She wrote:
None of my children are vaccinated. Totally by accident I came to find out that my oldest daughter has been fully vaccinated (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hep a and b, menengitis a and b and hpv) without mine or my husband’s knowledge or consent. In Ontario we have socialized medicine and publicly funded vaccines. She admitted she went to clinics run for school aged children run by our local health public health unit to get her shots and also got a few at a local walk in clinic that are not yet publicly funded paid for with her babysitting money. When I called public health and the clinic to complain they both said that because she is age 16 they cannot release any information to me – and I’m her mother! My husband and are livid that she was vaccinated without our consent. What kind of action can we take against public health and the clinic for vaccinating a child without parental consent? Do we have a case for a lawsuit?
Reddit, of course, enjoyed a delightful summer shower in anti-vaxxer tears over this post, because the poster’s teenage daughter is smart and awesome and deserves a high-five for taking her health into her own hands. Also Ontario deserves a high-five for its socialized medicine and publicly funded vaccines that allowed this 16-year-old to get up-to-date on all her vaccinations.
High-fives for everyone!
21 comments:
this is a very rare occurrence, but I'm happy to be in agreement with Dennis here.
"...I personally took responsibility for the immunizations of my two children in the 1070's..."
How's it going Methuselah?
DBP
There are some interesting facts and statistics in recent articles in Mother Jones. This is a topic which should concern everyone, because it deals with a disease that was once considered eradicated, and what happens as a result of antiscience hysteria.
First, measles is a disease which is 90% infectuous. Transmission of the disease occurs before it is even diagnosed, in fact up to 4 days prior to the appearance of the rash. It can survive up to two hours in an empty room, after an infected person has been present in that room. Therefore, avoidance of exposure is nearly impossible as a method of prevention.
The Pacific Northwest is the epicenter of the Antivaxx movement. Libertarian politicians in that region have succeeded in relaxing state laws regarding compulsory vaccination. Antivaxxers take issue with the MMR vaccine based on the disproven myth (recently repeated by President Trump) that the vaccine sometimes causes autism.
The reason the recent measles outbreaks are occurring is that there is insufficient community immunity. In order for there to be "herd immunity", the vaccination rate must not drop below 95%. In certain parts of Washington State, that rate is now as low as 90%. Keep in mind the additional facts that 3% of those vaccinated do not develop lifetime immunity, and that cancer patients cannot be vaccinated due to their compromised immunity. In 1998, when the disease was considered to have been eradicated, national vaccination rate was 98%.
This is a disease which used to cause 400-500 deaths per year. Victims can also also die from secondary infections which are the result of measles itself. There are various strains of measles, meaning that it is a disease that can be experienced multiple times throughout one's childhood. Clearly, this is an example of an issue where it is best to follow conventional wisdom, or majority opinion.
BB
Anonymous said...
"...I personally took responsibility for the immunizations of my two children in the 1070's..."
How's it going Methuselah?
DBP
Lol..thanks for the head's up. Actually I had just returned from the Battle of Hastings in 1066 with my personal friend, William the Conqueror and was concerned about plague and such, so went ahead with it though vaccinations had not yet come of age. :)
Excellent comment and facts BB. Thanks!
There are a lot of strange ideas floating around the COG universe on the fringes. Anti- Vaccination, Flat Earth, ChemTrails, Marijuana "miracle cancer cure" , Lunar Sabbath and many more.
Whacky Leaders = Whacky Followers
It sure seems that being in an ACOG for any length of time robs you of your ability to judge the credibility of evidence. Once you have learned to rationalize away the flaws in British Israelism, it's easy to accept the logic of the anti-vaxxers, which fits the ACOG agenda so well. Unfortunately, these lapses in logic seem very selective. I cannot understand, for instance, how an Israelite-supremacist ACOG like LCG can look the other way while one of its Canadian evangelists, Stuart Wachowicz, takes money from and promotes the agenda of China's overseas propaganda organization, The Confucius Institute.
Wachowicz defended the Institute as recently as earlier this month. This, despite much evidence that the Institute is working against the interests of Canada and the USA. The ACOGs teach that Christians should not be involved in politics, and that they should support their own nations' leaders.
Why, then, does LCG tolerate a leader who approves of the subversion of his own nation? Wachowicz wrote his defense of The Confucius Institute earlier this month; it's not that he left the Institute behind when he became an LCG bigwig. If an ordinary LCG member wrote a widely published article supporting a foreign nation's propaganda arm, would he remain in good standing? Apparently, LCG members are more likely to fear vaccination than to fear their children receiving foreign propaganda at school.
Exactly. Lack of discernment of credible vs incredible sources, and wackiness. This attracted weirdos. I've mentioned "Enema Dude" and "Carrot Juice Man" in previous posts, and I'm certain that there were similar personalities who refused to be ignored or denied in every local ACOG congregation in the English-speaking world. And now, we witness the damage that weirdos can inflict upon the greater mainstream population in the field of immunology and disease control!
This is very timely, and provides a realtime example as to how flaky viewpoints can disrupt and derail the forward progress of a civilization. Dissent is good, but it needs to have strong basis in fact. Tinfoil dissent is nearly always destructive, and always just plain weird.
BB
Good for you Dennis. The problem with the anti-vaxers is they refuse to live by the quarantine laws of the bible they believe in.
Kevin McMillen
What's odd is that many of the WCG/splinter "monkey pus" people, who would never think of putting a vaccine or pork gelatin substance into their bodies, consume all sorts of over-the-counter supplements with no regard for their actual efficacy, and even trust their health to scammy cancer treatments while forgoing proven therapies. If they were as skeptical about "cleanses" and "cancer zappers" as they are about vaccines, many more of them might still be alive today.
Kevin McMillen said...
The problem with the anti-vaxers is they refuse to live by the quarantine laws of the bible they believe in.
Excellent point. The fact also is that in Israel or in any place where "Biblical Quarantine Laws" applied were always applied AFTER the fact. Once someone came down with leprosy or whatever, then they set them aside having probably learned how things can spread. However, by that time, I am sure that some hid out to avoid the priest or quarantine rules and thus spread more disease or illness before giving in. Sounds familiar. It is just that today we can quarantine the problem before it starts and from inside the person using "God's natural laws of Immunity" kick started to do the job and never let the disease get started in the first place.
I still say if scripture says a merry heart makes good like a medicine then the argument for medicine being good can be made from the text as well. Well, every argument on every idea can be argued from scripture lol.
I do understand concerns we all might have but we have to balance them against the statistics as well as a little trust that medical science is not out to get us but to help us. I grew up getting all the known shots of the day including, of course, polio vaccine by injection and then, thank the gods, by sugar cube. THey just marched into our school and gave it to everyone and I am sure no one asked the parents. Parents were grateful it seems that the chance of their child ending up in an iron lung was virtually elimated by that discovery and approach.
And too...any adult who took an aspirin, antibiotic or pepto bismol had no grounds for trust God to heal only. It's like the person who asked me what the difference was between having their appendix removed and a bad tooth? I said, "None, except the hole to get at the tooth was already there." :)
I did the same, i had all my children vaccinated and WCG knew nothing about it.
No minister in any of the various COG's I attended had any right to tell me what to do with my children, where I worked, what foods I ate, whether or not I voted or not, the kind of car I was supposed to drive and what kinds of men's suits and ties I was supposed to wear. It was none of their business! I told that to a couple of them when they tried to assert their authority.
Some of you old timers will remember a man by the name of Edward Lain. He was a blind man because of childhood measles. He still led a successful life and earned his living tuning pianos. Married to Ina Grabbe in the mid-sixties, he had, I think five children. He's dead now a year or two and lived to 89. He had a high intellect and I wonder what he might have accomplished in life if he hadn't been blind. I bring this up to illustrate the fact that measles is not just a simple childhood disease. It's effects can be life altering, even life destroying.
Our pastor reacted the same as Dennis. In our case there was a huge polio outbreak due to the conservative reformed churches (dennis' childhood church) view regarding vaccination. 14 children from our hood contracted polio and our wcg pastor appealed to my mothers conscious in deciding.
As for DBP. Good for you re battle of Hastings. Some 1000 years before the chinese had already inserted pus from diseased people, having observed that sufferers of minor symptoms had greater survival chances later, than those who had never suffered disease before.
They speculated that "little animals" had something to do with both the suffering and the healing proces.
Later an english diplomat woman in I believe China or Turkey after losing one child to certain disease tried the chinese aproach for her second and it survived. Hence the history of vaccination.
All anti vaxers claiming their child is ok without vaccine, are simply free riders on the slips of the (mathematical) critical majority who do vaccinate.
They simply have been to lazy to look up their ancestry tree and ask why every lady died at 32 and most men at 40 and only 2 out of 12 children reached 21.
Only if you accept the above I am willing to discuss the evils of the medicine industry. I know there is a case to be made AFTER you thanked God for modern understanding about the workings of the human body and and some great inventions to help our frailty.
I would URGE anyone to respect penniciline and lobby for limited use. Since it is more precious than diamonds but through our spoiled ways are at risk of making germs resistant to this precious gold by the overabundance of its use.
Nck
Thanks NCK. Very helpful. Great info and perspective.
Finally a post from NCK that is worthwhile!
In a related current news item, Eric Lindenberger of Ohio, who had been deprived of vaccinations all his life because of his parents’ antivaxx beliefs did his own research and obtained his vaccinations upon turning 18 recently.
He realized that all of his classmates had received their vaccinations with no adverse effects, and that his parents’ beliefs were based largely on a conspiracy theory. He also considered that the worlds largest and most up to date health organization, the CDC, fully recommended vaccination.
As in the case of Armstrongism, codependent children who survive their parents’ beliefs until they come of age are able to right the wrongs. Let’s hope that more of these kids do take advantage of science and technology as soon as they are able to make their own decisions.
BB
A piece of relevant history on this subject -
AC Pasadena 1984 - Student body chose to be vaccinated for MMR. There were a number of students who were fully vaccinated and they served the campus well during this time. Many students were quarantined after returning from France and Orr with the measles. Others were quaranteened due to the fact that one of those returning individuals unknowingly carried the virus and had greeted many students with a hug.
A special assembly was held one evening in which Raymond McNair gave students the option to be vaccinated. The college supported either choice. From memory only one student declined the offer because he had proof that he had an allergy that had known adverse reaction to MMR. He went into quaranteen for the required time while the students body was vaccinated by the State of California.
The 1985 Envoy would give you some clues to who was vaccinated.
Byker Bob, I think you're referencing an NPR segment (which I heard recently) about Ethan [not Eric] Lindenberger.
I can't find a link to the NPR audio, but here's a link to an accompanying article-
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/09/692819105/defying-parents-a-teen-decides-to-get-vaccinated
Thanks for the correction, 10:10. I read the article on Ethan while waiting for a hairstyle at Supercuts on Sunday afternoon. Apparently, I'd forgotten his name by the time I typed my post while having a post-haircut French Dip at Quiznos. Must have been the pepperoncinis.
One of my sons is an antivaxxer, so it's a topic in which I take great interest. Of course, I never express any negative opinions to him regarding that stance. It's one of those things like riding a smoker's back about quitting. Doesn't work out. It usually just drives them deeper. If an antivaxxer's child does contract the measles, it could have a devastating effect on any cancer patients they happen to expose.
Sometimes you just have to be selfless about some of your beliefs to protect the herd.
BB
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