Vaccines and the Moral Dilemma

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate is a moral dilemma for many. A New Vaccine for Shingles In October of this year, Children of God for Life announced that the long-awaited, morally produced shingles vaccine has received FDA approval for licensing in the US. Shingrix, made by Glaxo SmithKline pharmaceutical company, is produced using a yeast cell line. Previously, people had only one option for vaccination against shingles: Merck's Zostavax which uses aborted fetal cells. "Until now, people wanting to have protection from shingles have had to either use Merck's aborted fetal version or abstain entirely," stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director at Children of God for Life.  "We are absolutely thrilled that GSK has finally given the US a moral option!" Shingrix has also received FDA recommendation as the product of choice and is also recently approved for use in Canada. Clinical trials have proven Shingrix to be a superior product to Zostavax, making it a generally more attractive vaccination choice for the prevention of shingles. Shingrix is 97.2% effective in people over 50 years old and maintained 90% efficacy in those 70 years old and above. After four years, those vaccinated still maintained with 95% immunity, compared with Merck's Zostavax, which is only 38% effective in people over 70 and maintained only 40% duration of immunity after four years. To Vaccinate Or Not to Vaccinate? The Dilemma for People of Faith In a recent case that highlighted the difficulties of vaccination for people of faith, a young mom landed in jail for refusing to vaccinate her 9-year-old son with a vaccine produced from the cells of an aborted fetus. She and her husband were not in agreement in the decision, and after initially agreeing to a court order to have the child vaccinated, she couldn't go through with it. A judge ordered her to serve seven days in jail, and she served her time, effectively creating a criminal class of parents whose conscience is violated by the use of aborted babies to create products for human consumption. Today all common childhood immunizations are created using aborted fetal cells. Parents wanting to get their child immunized against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, chickenpox, and Hepatitis A are faced with the choice of either using a version that is repugnant to their moral convictions, finding an ethical version for those that have one, or take the risk of leaving their child unprotected.  All fifty states in the U.S. now require at least some vaccinations for school entry, and updated vaccinations or proof of acquired antibodies to disease are required for healthcare workers across the country. It is hoped that the success of the new shingles vaccine will encourage the development of other new, morally acceptable alternatives to current vaccines. Since Zostavax is a weakened version of its chickenpox vaccine, it is hoped that Glaxo Smith-Kline will produce a new version of the chickenpox vaccine using a weakened version of its shingles vaccine. Perhaps soon people like the mom from Michigan will no longer have to choose between violating her conscience or putting her child at risk and breaking the law to properly care for those they love.

www.fiercepharma.com/vaccines/fda-panelunanimously-endorses-glaxo-s-shingrix-as-1b-market-duel-nears 

info@cogforlife.org

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/10/27/mom-jailed-for-not-vaccinating-her-son-with-vaccine-that-uses-cells-from-aborted-babies/

https://vaccines.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=005979

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/laws/state-reqs.html

Is Your Phone Making Someone Sick?

At a busy doctor's office recently, I got in line to check my son in for a routine visit. Instead of the old-school clipboard they used to update patient information, the receptionist handed me an electronic tablet. I took it reluctantly, scrolled through the prompts with the stylus, and confirmed the information on the display. I stood back in line and handed it in.

Then I went to the bathroom and thoroughly washed my hands.

Am I paranoid about getting sick? Yes, I am. As a caregiver to a son with high medical needs, I can't afford to be sick for even one day. Although we have grown children who help us a lot, I am the only one who does all the skilled nursing treatments required by my son's high-level spinal cord injury. And because we operate a certified nursing home to care for our son, regulations define who can come in to assist us.

Our son's fragile respiratory status, his father's commitment to watch him every night while he is on the ventilator to sleep, and our youngest daughter's struggle to juggle caregiving with a full-time job, makes the health of our household a vital concern.

A cold for others is an inconvenience. For us, it is a disaster.

According to a recent issue of RN Idaho, a magazine published by the American Nurses Association of Idaho for Idaho's nurses, my concerns about mobile devices are well-founded. In the article, "Mobile Bugs: Are Pathogens on Your Devices?" the authors assert that mobile devices are, indeed, potential reservoirs for pathogens.

Every year more than 90,000 people die in the United States from healthcare acquired infections, also known as HAIs. HAIs are infections acquired during a stay in a hospital. Researchers have found that up to 95% of phones in hospitals were colonized with bacteria, of which 5% were pathogenic. Some pretty nasty bugs were found on them, including MRSA, E. coli, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas. Viruses like rotavirus and adenovirus were also discovered.

The most disturbing news was that most healthcare providers reported that they didn't regularly clean their mobile devices. Although a direct connection between contaminated mobile devices and HAI's has not been established, it should be treated as a real possibility.

And even though research has concentrated on HAIs in a hospital setting, common sense would suggest that community settings - and especially ones in which sick people are concentrated - should be treated as potential infection pools, as well.

Prevention from infection can be as simple as regularly cleaning our own mobile devices at home and those we use on the job. It should, of course, become a habit to wash our hands before feeding or otherwise giving care to those in our charge. And we should speak up when we see a healthcare provider forget to wash up before providing care to us or a loved one.

Breaking the cycle of infection is an important way to keep ourselves and those we love healthy.





Callegos, Cara; Hong-Engelhard, Cindy; McDuffee, Veronica; Boeck, Caitlyn (2017, August, September, October). Mobile Bugs: Are Pathogens on Your Devices? RN Idaho, 5.

Living the Impossible

Impossible.

That's what they told us. Oh, they used different words at different hospitals, but they all said the same thing. After Kevin's devastating spinal cord injury sustained in a fall, his situation seemed hopeless. He lay paralyzed from the neck down and kept alive by a ventilator.

He was first taken to the local hospital at Lethbridge, Alberta, but was quickly transferred by helicopter to a Calgary hospital. We drove twelve hours through the night to join him after we received the call. When we arrived at the Calgary hospital the next morning, we were ushered into a gray room and joined by a gray doctor. He talked somberly about all the challenges Kevin faced. I don't remember much of what he said to us. But his face said it all:

Expect the worst.

The second consultation was with a sour doctor who presented us with a bunch of "nevers." Kevin would never breathe again. He would never move his body below his chin or possibly his shoulders. He might not even survive the complications of the injury. He would never go home to the United States, because no airline would take him on a flight. No medical crew would consent to accompany him, and no doctor in the States would accept him as a patient.

And, the doctor added, they didn't have vent patients there. Kevin's only way out was death.

But God is a God of the impossible.

We rejected this push for euthanasia, and God opened the way for Kevin to be flown back to a hospital in the United States in a chartered Lear jet, accompanied by a volunteer medical team and his brother Erik. Through the generosity of the people of Canada and here in the States, everything was paid in full. Kevin's Canadian surgeon was a wonderful man who gave us our first ray of hope by telling us Kevin would probably survive, although his chances of recovering any function or feeling were one in a hundred. Virtually impossible.

Kevin's trials increased after transferring to Spokane, when he experienced two respiratory codes and nearly died both times. He struggled with two bouts of pneumonia, finally stabilizing enough to be moved to a rehabilitation hospital. Along the way, he surprised the medical personnel by beginning to regain feeling and some slight movement.

Still, they reminded him that he could never wean off the ventilator. They told us that it would be impossible for us to care for him at home, and he would have to live in a nursing facility.

Our God IS a God of the impossible.

Seven weeks after his injury, Kevin went home with us, his family, as his caregivers. Two years after the injury, he weaned off the vent during his waking hours, only going back on it at night to sleep. He gained more feeling and movement back in his body.

Today he can run a computer, walk with help, and do a few things for himself. Recently he began a new, self-imposed exercise regimen and has made new gains. He taught himself computer animation and 3D graphics, ran a studio with his brother, and now is the founder and senior editor of a website devoted to Christian music, http://www.cmaddict.com.

In 2008, he served as honorary groomsman at his brother Erik's wedding. He was honorary groomsman at his friend Grant's wedding, as well. Last September, Kevin rolled down the aisle of our church to stand beside his brother Daniel as his best man at his wedding.

Every day for twenty years, we have lived the impossible.

It has been with great joy we have watched God work in our weakness. He has given us miracles without end in this journey. Together, we have watched God bring our family closer through trial and release the fragrance of His grace in our broken lives and dreams. We have stood amazed at the tenderness and love with which our adult children have served their brother and us. We see with joy that God is building new dreams.

Yes, life has been hard. Kevin has suffered much. But he has chosen to serve God in his suffering. We have chosen to serve God in standing beside our son. The beauty we have been privileged to witness far outweighs the sorrow.

Today, on July 11, 2017, we celebrate twenty years of watching an awesome God at work. We rejoice at twenty years of life restored to our son. We look forward to the future, knowing that our Lord is still a God of miracles. Every day, in His power, we live this wonderful, impossible life together.

 

The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.

-Luke 18:27