Catholic group joins the call for Merck to make single-dose measles and mumps vaccines

[cbayer]

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/catholic-group-joins-the-call-for-merck-to-make-single-dose-measles-and-mumps-vaccines-37970/

Posted by Robert Herriman on January 30, 2015

A Change.org petition to increase vaccination against measles and mumps by working with the religious beliefs of parents has garnered support from the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education organization in the United States.


Image/CDC

American Life League (ALL) joined the call urging Merck to make available the single-dose versions of its measles and mumps vaccines. Currently, the measles vaccine from Merck is only available combined with mumps and rubella. The rubella portion of the combination vaccine was created from aborted fetal cell lines, according to a ALL press release Thursday.

“Merck is denying parents the choice of obtaining an ethical measles vaccine,” stated Judie Brown, president of American Life League. “According to Children of God for Life, outbreaks of measles, such as at the California Disney parks, have been on the increase ever since Merck discontinued the ethical single-dose vaccine in 2008.”

Debi Vinnedge, president of Children of God for Life, explained that there are a large number of parents who do not vaccinate their children for measles due to there being no ethical version of the vaccine available. “Ninety-nine percent of the parents I encounter just want the moral versions of measles and mumps vaccines,” Vinnedge stated. “If Merck were to make the ethical single-dose vaccines available again, vaccine coverage would increase significantly.”

more at link

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. I didn't know there were any pro-rubella groups, until now

Looks like they need another smackdown from Ratzinger, who said parents should use the vaccine even though he didn't like its origin. And, of course, they need to be told to read things like this:

Rubella, or German measles, is most dangerous to your baby if you catch it during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy. Rubella can cause miscarriage, stillbirth or birth defects in unborn babies, such as:

hearing loss
brain damage
heart defects
cataracts

This is called congenital rubella syndrome and is transmitted to the baby through the placenta. Rubella is now a rare condition because people were either vaccinated at school or as part of the childhood MMR vaccine.

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1104.aspx?CategoryID=54

[cbayer]

2. This was news to me as well.

Eliminating the rubella from MMR is really a mixed blessing. If more kids will get the MM part, that is good, but not getting the R is really a problem. We have almost eliminated rubella.

[longship]

3. This is utter rubbish.

The rubella vaccine in the MMR has zero fetal cells in it.

Here, from Science-Based Medicine Blog: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-other-anti-vaccinationists/

That is what the research says.

One gets sick and tired of this crapola. And people will suffer because of it.

Thanks for bringing this to attention. Although I've known about this lunacy for some time, its lunacy should be refreshed from time to time.

[cbayer]

4. While I do not at all agree with their position, their objection

is not that the vaccines contain fetal cells. The objection is that the cell lines used to make the vaccines were obtained from aborted fetuses.

Unless I am reading it incorrectly, your linked article does support that that is the case.

[longship]

5. And that is a sad excuse for refusing the vaccine.

The cell lines were part of scientific research, which gave rise to a vaccination to a horrible disease which can cause birth defects and stillbirths.

So these idiots would rather have stillbirths and birth defects than protection from those afflictions. Why? Because stem cells which were already going to be disposed of were used in the primary research?????

There are no stem cells in the vaccine.

I have no sympathy for their position. My position is that no child should be admitted to public school without vaccinations. That is the way it was when I first attended school. The only exception are those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Religious exemptions should be off the table.

If one disagrees, ask Disney this week.

Rubella, or as we knew it in the 50's German Measles, is not a nice thing. The vaccine works. The last thing the US needs is a Rubella outbreak because of abject ignorance.

What's next? Polio? I remember that in grade school. Fellow students walking on crutches and leg braces. Some disappearing with no explanation. I was fortunate. I got the original Salk vaccine. EVERYBODY GOT IT! And polio is gone from the USA. But it is not gone from the world, so it can come back.

I confess that I have a visceral anger towards the anti-vaccine crowd. Because all of their arguments serve no purpose for humanity.

My regards.

[cbayer]

6. I understand all of that and I agree that it is a very tragic situation.

Even Pope Benedict (before he was pope) told people to forget about the very old source and take the vaccine.

Of course there are no stem cells in the vaccine but how to educate them is the question.

To be honest if there is a way to get them to get the measles and mumps parts, then I think we should go with that. Better to have that than nothing.

The serious risk of rubella is primarily during pregnancy. Childhood rubella is really a minor illness. One can hope that children that were denied the vaccine will decide to get it when they become adults and are of child bearing age. If they get rubella as children, they will be immune as adults.

I am not saying this to dismiss or excuse their illogical reasons for refusing, but to encourage us to get the MM out there so more kids will get it.

I share your visceral anger but I am most concerned about the children who have no voice in this. While this compromise is not at all ideal, it is a compromise I would like to see happen.

[longship]

7. Any religious argument against vaccines is empty.

The three most important health measures in human history are:

1. Indoor plumbing (flush toilets!).
2. Potable water.
3. Vaccines.

1. Meant shit was no longer thrown out the windows on the street. Thank you Thomas Crapper!

2. I think one can thank Louis Pasteur for this one. The germ theory of disease was a true change in thinking. Of course, he had to have the previous work of Anton van Leeuwenhoek who discovered animalcules in his microscopes.

3. Jenner! And the world is now free of smallpox! We could be free of polio, too, were it not for the anti-vaxxer idiots. The USA has seen few measles deaths for decades, until now. Thanks to fucking idiots like Jenny McCarthy, Robert Kennedy Jr, and Bill Maher.

[cbayer]

8. We do not disagree

though I would put antibiotics in your list.

I agree that it is time to take some hard stands. Kids were not permitted in schools without all their vaccines when I was a kid. Hell, my son couldn't get into college without his records (which were lost in Katrina).

There was recently a discussion about making more stringent laws where the exemptions are very few and very clear.

We are probably going to disagree on this point, but I do support some religious exceptions. I do not support an exception for the rubella argument, but for those that shun all medical care, like 7th day adventists, I am not willing to force them to get their children vaccinated. However, I am not sure that those children should be permitted in public schools.

Bill Maher says a lot of stupid things, imo, but he has been silent on this issue for years, and I thank him for that. The list of hollywood idiots is long, but no one ever correlated acting with intelligence.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/hollywoods-biggest-anti-vaccine-proponents-731277

[longship]

9. I love the "very few and very clear" mandate.

There is no question that there are people who cannot be vaccinated for a variety of health reasons, most specifically those who have damaged immune systems. Also, those whose age is below that recommended for the vaccination.

But there are very few of those people. The ones who cannot be vaccinated depend on those who can only if they do. Herd immunity is a real thing. By vaccinating everybody who can be vaccinated, the diseases cannot get a grip on a population and cannot spread.

That was recently and sadly punctuated at Disneyland. Measles is extremely infectious, but is entirely controllable with the vaccine. Yet communities across the nation are now having to deal with this one Disneyland outbreak. All because people won't get their vaccines.

And this for a disease outbreak that few modern physicians have seen in recent years. As infectious disease physician, Mark Crislip, explains here.

Get your vaccines, people. Make sure your kiddies do too.

[cbayer]

10. The health exceptions are very clear and, I agree, very few.

At this time, the religious exceptions are also very few. There is only a very small minority of the population that shuns all medical treatment on religious grounds.

I am aware that the ideal is to vaccinate everyone that can safely be vaccinated.

In some ways the Disneyland outbreak may be the event that turns the tide on this. Many people have refused vaccines based on their baseless fears that the vaccines would make their children sick. The very real and much more dangerous threat of them contracting a preventable communicable disease could be a lynch pin.

I don't remember where this was, but there was a church that was preaching against vaccines. They had a measles outbreak that spread to the community school and it was really scary. The church not only changed their position but set up a vaccination program for people in their community.

So, look on the bright side. The final outcome could be positive.

[longship]

11. Oh yes. I remember that. It was in Texas I think.

I listen to a lot of science and skeptical podcasts. And this church was one of the major stories. That the pastor stood in front of his congregation and told them to get their vaccines was a victory.

That it took an outbreak to bring it about was a shame. The same with the Disney outbreak which seems to be rippling through the nation, hopefully limited.

Hopefully people will learn.

As always, I hope you are well. Make sure you have your vaccines.

[cbayer]

12. I do indeed have all my vaccines, as do all of my children.

Having a daughter working for the CDC is helpful, because there are some vaccines for which one has to weigh the risk vs. the benefit and she has a great deal of expertise on this.

I hope you are well, my friend. Must be cold up there. Wish I could send you some of this heat.

[pinto]

13. In some instances, those with suppressed immune systems are medically encouraged to re-up vaccines.

I had cause to make an ER visit last week (Catholic non-profit hospital, fwiw) and was pleased how thorough staff was on a vaccination review. The ER doc even made a call to the County Health Department Epidemiologist for latest CDC guidelines on vaccines that were medically advisable. He offered the gamut and I accepted without hesitation.

Apparently a vaccine review is becoming a standard in any number of health care settings.

[longship]

15. That is encouraging.

The Disneyland outbreak, not so much. It has spread far past California. The CDC has undoubtedly taken notice, as have infectious disease physicians.

Measles is horribly infectious, airborne. And it kills.

[rug]

14. This is an empty controversy.

Outbreak News Today reached out to vaccine expert, Dr. Paul Offit for a comment on the press release. Offit sent the following statement via email:

Four vaccines are made from embryonic cells obtained from two elective abortions performed in the early 1960s. The two cell lines derived from those abortions are called WI38 and MRC5. These two cell lines are used to make the rubella, hepatitis A, varicella, and one of the rabies vaccines.

Debi Vinnedge has already asked the Church, through its policy making body The Pontifical Academy for Life, to comment on the use of vaccines made using cells from abortions performed about 50 years ago. When she asked, the head of the Academy of Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI.

Although Ratzinger decried the use of these cells at the time researchers made vaccines, he made it very clear that Catholics should vaccinate their children with these vaccines. I talk about this at some length in the book VACCINATED: ONE MAN’S QUEST TO DEFEAT THE WORLD’S DEADLIEST DISEASES..

[longship]

16. Yup! nt

[cbayer]

17. If there are people refusing MMR because of the Rubella controversy,

even though the church has said it's fine, then why is it an empty controversy?

[rug]

18. Becase the ground they're standing on is simply air.

There would have to have another reason for the objection beyond the stated one.

[cbayer]

19. According to what law?

Are there laws requiring people to vaccinate their children that don't include religious exemptions?

People are refusing MMR because of the R, and that's a problem. If there was an MM alternative, at least kids would be getting that protection.

[rug]

20. They're basing it on a religios principle, inaptly applied here, not a legal principle.

They posit the religious principle is that destroyed human embryos cannot be used for medical research or vaccines.

The problem here is that stem cells lines from embryos aborted fifty years ago are being used. That is inapposite from using human embryos to be destroyed primarily for research or vaccines.

On a related note, religion completely aside, what do you think of sex selection abortions?

[cbayer]

21. While I agree with what you are saying about this, they are still

refusing and in most places no one can stop them.

I think abortion is a decision between a woman and her doctor. However, when there are laws or customs in place that give advantage to one sex over another and, in doing so, promote selective abortion, that's a problem for me. If someone is doing it because they have 5 boys already and really want a girl, I'm neutral.

Have you seen "After Tiller"? Really good documentary on third term abortions. The ethical dilemma of when it is truly justified and when it is not is well presented and fraught with complications.

My feelings about aborting a fetus who could potentially live outside the womb deviate from my feelings about a woman's right to choose.

[rug]

22. I haven't seen that. I'll look for it, or a trailer online.

Abortion is one of those issues that, while it may have a bright line, that line is not straight but circuitous.

[cbayer]

23. It's on netflix, even here, lol.

So, what is your opinion about abortion for sex selection?

[rug]

24. Varied.

It is, ironically, misogynist.

ETA: here's the full documentary.

[cbayer]

25. Glad you found it. I would be interested on your take once

you get a chance to watch it.

[rug]

26. Thanks for telling me about it. I'll watch it over the weekend.