Pro-Life Groups say Merck is Partly to Blame for Measles Outbreaks

[RandySF]

As the measles outbreak focuses attention on parents who object to vaccination, some pro-life groups argue one culprit contributing to the problem is actually Merck, which makes the only measles vaccine available in the U.S. And some have begun a new campaign this week to pressure the drug maker to alter the composition of its vaccine.

At issue is the MMR – or measles, mumps and rubella – combination vaccine sold by Merck. Pro-life groups say they object to the rubella component on religious grounds because it was made using cell lines derived from aborted fetuses. As a result, the groups say pro-life supporters have avoided the MMR vaccine ever since Merck ended production in 2009 of a dedicated measles vaccine.

“The current outbreak would not be as severe or widespread if parents had the ability to access separate vaccines,” says Debi Vinnedge, the director of Children of God for Life, a non-profit, pro-life organization. “Parents are being unfairly targeted as the problem when Merck is the problem. If they had the separate doses available more people would have been vaccinated.”

To what extent a separate measles vaccine might mitigate any recent outbreak or uptick in the disease is unclear. Children of God for Life and the American Life League, another pro-life group that this week has called for Merck to change its vaccine production, are uncertain of the number of supporters who would vaccinate their children if MMR was not offered only as a combined product.


http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015/01/30/pro-life-groups-say-merck-is-partly-to-blame-for-measles-outbreaks/

[Archae]

1. Screw those "pro-lifers!"

They have all the medical knowledge of the Old Testament.
(In other words, none.)

[shenmue]

2. Garbage

[TreasonousBastard]

3. For the truth of the matter...

There's a whole bunch of technical stuff written about this, but here's a simple explanation:

http://autism.about.com/od/medicalissuesandautis1/f/vaxfetal.htm

Some vaccines, including the Mumps Measles Rubella (MMR) vaccine, contain killed viruses. The viruses are cultured in aborted fetal tissue. Regarding the MMR vaccine, the CDC states:

The rubella vaccine virus is cultured in human cell-line cultures, and some of these cell lines originated from aborted fetal tissue, obtained from legal abortions in the 1960's. No new fetal tissue is needed to produce cell lines to make these vaccines, now or in the future. Fetal tissue is not used to produce vaccines; cell lines generated from a single fetal tissue source are used; vaccine manufacturers obtain human cell lines from FDA-certified cell banks. After processing, very little, if any, of that tissue remains in the vaccine.

So if there is any tiny residual cellular material in a vaccine, it is from cell lines. Although those cell lines originated in aborted fetal tissue decades ago, there is no aborted fetal tissue itself in the vaccine.

For those who are still uncomfortable with this revelation, it might be helpful to know that the Vatican has actually taken a stand on the issue. The Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life issued a statement in 2005 saying that it is wrong to make vaccines using aborted fetal tissue and that such practices should no longer be employed, however, it is acceptable to use vaccines developed from abortions that were carried out decades ago, because immunizations play a vital role in protecting life by preventing illness and death.

[3catwoman3]

4. I would counter that line of "reasoning" by...

...suggesting that getting the vaccine is a way to honor the life of that infant.