Chickenpox vaccine

[decn2b]

i recently was diagnosed with chickenpox as an adult. Well my titer came back negative. Which means I was misdiagnosed and didn’t have CP.(I was suspicious after a few days anywasy because of an expidited recovery). My Doctor now insists that I get the vaccine to prevent getting the disease. I do work in a hospital and recall two instances in my years taking care of adults who contracted chickenpox as adults…one of which died the other was very very ill. The vaccine is over 90% effective in seroconversion on adults if done in a 2 shot series. Morally here is my problem…there is only 1 vaccine manufacturer who devolps the vaccine. They use fetal stem cells from aborted fetuses to “grow” the vaccine. (FYI most vaccines for childhood illnesses now have no “ethical” version) .

The Vatican released a document in 2005 regarding the use of such vaccines mostly the MMR shot for kids but explains the morality of use for such vaccines. I read the document and for the life of me cannot tell if it is OK to recieve such a vaccine or not. SInce I am a healthcare worker it is quite important for me to obtain immunity for this disease. ANyone? anyone?

 

[wjp984]

Since chicken pox can be very serious if you get it as an adult I would get the vaccine. I was so upset when I got chicken pox. It was during Easter Vacation. I dind’t even get to miss school. How sucky was that?

 

[cecilia97]

i recently was diagnosed with chickenpox as an adult. Well my titer came back negative. Which means I was misdiagnosed and didn’t have CP.(I was suspicious after a few days anywasy because of an expidited recovery). My Doctor now insists that I get the vaccine to prevent getting the disease. I do work in a hospital and recall two instances in my years taking care of adults who contracted chickenpox as adults…one of which died the other was very very ill. The vaccine is over 90% effective in seroconversion on adults if done in a 2 shot series. Morally here is my problem…there is only 1 vaccine manufacturer who devolps the vaccine. They use fetal stem cells from aborted fetuses to “grow” the vaccine. (FYI most vaccines for childhood illnesses now have no “ethical” version) .

The Vatican released a document in 2005 regarding the use of such vaccines mostly the MMR shot for kids but explains the morality of use for such vaccines. I read the document and for the life of me cannot tell if it is OK to recieve such a vaccine or not. SInce I am a healthcare worker it is quite important for me to obtain immunity for this disease. ANyone? anyone?

Interesting…my doc told me last year that she was not convinced of the effectiveness of the CP vaccine as the test groups didn’t include many people in my age bracket (around 30) but mostly younger people.

 

[StephanieC]

Try this site: The National Catholic Bioethics Center. I linked to FAQs on vaccines.
Here is the Q & A that might be of help to your discernment:

What do I do if there is no alternative to a vaccine produced from these cell lines?

One is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion. The reason is that the risk to public health, if one chooses not to vaccinate, outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine. This is especially important for parents, who have a moral obligation to protect the life and health of their children and those around them.

 

[decn2b]

Try this site: The National Catholic Bioethics Center. I linked to FAQs on vaccines.
Here is the Q & A that might be of help to your discernment:

.
Strange that document seems almost the opposite of what our current pope said. Hmmm… I am wondering of which of either the pope or the National Catholic Bioethics Center trumps whoms moral autority. I am wondering if anyone can tell me if the above bioethics group has the power of “ex-cathedra” ie: infallibility on issues of faith and morals.

Of course I do find comfort in the fact that the NCBC consults the vatican on issues especially naming the CDF in reference to bioethics issues. Of course they also list the NCCB as a source…which causes slight concern.

 

[Dale_M]

Strange that document seems almost the opposite of what our current pope said.

Could you provide a link or reference to what he said?

 

[deb1]

My brother is a PA and he mention some problems with the effectiveness of the vaccine. I don’t know what those problems were though.

Shingles is the adult form of Chicken Pox and I think that is what doctors are trying to avoid in patients. From what I understand it is very painful.

I thought that the Chicken Pox Antibodies stayed in the body and occasionally resurfaced as shingles in adults. I am a bit fuzzy on how the vaccine would prevent this.

 

[Leeta]

I disagree with the National Catholic Bioethics Center. I do not think it morally licit. When will it stop? With that kind of slippery reasoning, they’ll next be saying that it is morally licit to use therapies developed from murdering other human beings, namely embryo babies. Since when do we turn our backs on those killed in abortion by supposedly benefiting from their murder? Go read about Dr. Raschers research at Dachau. Google Nazi doctors.

Friends of ours are having a bout of it. Go visit them. The immunity is lifelong. I find it difficult to believe that chickenpox is some deadly scourge. There are many who get Chickenpox in spite of the vaccination…

There are many problems with vaccinations. They do not impart lifelong immunity. They are like condoms. They fail.

I wouldn’t get the vaccination because of health risks from the vaccination.
As soon as I found out about the connection with aborted babies, I quit getting my children those vaccinations. There is a connection with autism and the MMR vaccination.
Our goal is heaven, not good health at all costs and by all means. Being sick and unhealthy is not a sin, but killing others in order to benefit from their deaths is and it could cost you heaven!

 

[Karin]

.

Friends of ours are having a bout of it. Go visit them. The immunity is lifelong. I find it difficult to believe that chickenpox is some deadly scourge. There are many who get Chickenpox in spite of the vaccination…**I would not reccommend this for an ADULT…but for a child I see no issue with this other than it is harder and harder to actually find kids that have CP **

 

[StephanieC]

Strange that document seems almost the opposite of what our current pope said. Hmmm… I am wondering of which of either the pope or the National Catholic Bioethics Center trumps whoms moral autority. I am wondering if anyone can tell me if the above bioethics group has the power of “ex-cathedra” ie: infallibility on issues of faith and morals.

Of course I do find comfort in the fact that the NCBC consults the vatican on issues especially naming the CDF in reference to bioethics issues. Of course they also list the NCCB as a source…which causes slight concern.

It cracks me up when people solicit opinions on an issue, receive responses, and within a few posts are suddenly skeptical of any response they get.

I just want to spell out my confusion: in your first post, you said "for the life of me, I cannot tell whether it is okay to recieve such a vaccine or not."

So I took the time to provide a link to a source I know and trust.

Then in the post I quote, you “roll eyes” at my attempt to help clarify thing for you, and are skeptical of a pretty heavy-weight source, and sarcastically ask about ex cathedra statements from a lay group. Is this a game?

Would you care to explain yourself? I’m confused, but I sincerely want to give you the benefit of the doubt.

 

[decn2b]

There is a connection with autism and the MMR vaccination.
!

The connection with autism is based on NO EVIDENCE. In fact the reason why many thought that it casued autism is because of Mercuricom was present in the vaccine as a preservative. Originally there was a thought that mercuricom had detrimental effects on children and caused autism many autistic kids never got the vaccine but anyway… HOWEVER muercuricom is no longer used in vaccines so the anti-vaccine crowd has backed way off the autism angle on the MRR. I have done some research and MMR comes in an ethical forumulation (hampster stem cells). Having side effects from a vaccine are listed on the MRR vax monograph as minimal. The no vaccination risk of catching the disease is 1 out of every 1000 chidren die from the measles. 1.4 children die out of 1000 from mumps complications Rubella is much milder for older children but can be fatal in infants.

The severe side effects rate (encephalitis) from recieving the vaccine is 1 in 1,000,000 which I must say is slightly better than winning the lottery but keep in mind encephalitis is not the same as dying so I am comparing side effects of the medicine with FATALITY rate of the disease. The reason is there is no reported deaths from the vaccine…but there have been millions of deaths from catching the disease. God gave us brains to invent vaccines, and I am sure that we are pleasing to him in doing so (so long as we have done it ethically)

The Math speaks for itself. Simply apply those statistics to yourself in another situation and you would go with the lower risk every time. I used the CDC website for my stats google them if you want.

I will not be taking the VCV becuase it has no other ethical alternative.

 

[Daniel_Kane]

The June, 2005 document from the Pontifical Academy for Life:

academiavita.org/template.jsp?sez=Documenti&pag=testo/vacc/vacc&lang=english#sdfootnote15anc

Not only suggests that it is licit to receive the vaccine, but may be morally obligatory because as a health care worker one has a duty to protect others who may be exposed to your disease. This is clear in footnote 15 of the document quoted below:

This is particularly true in the case of vaccination against German measles, because of the danger of Congenital Rubella Syndrome. This could occur, causing grave congenital malformations in the fetus, when a pregnant woman enters into contact, even if it is brief, with children who have not been immunized and are carriers of the virus. In this case, the parents who did not accept the vaccination of their own children become responsible for the malformations in question, and for the subsequent abortion of fetuses, when they have been discovered to be malformed.
**
This is not to say that one should not demand ethically acceptable vaccines and work to eliminate the aborted fetal lines, however, no man is an island.

To expose innocent members of the public to a disease that is preventable using a method that the Pontifical Academy of Life with the approval of the Congregation for Doctrine and The Faith says is licit, is to place one’s self as the final, moral arbiter, above the offices set up and staffed by the Holy Father to make these judgments in the name of the Church.

 

[Leeta]

The latest directive from the Vatican ( go to the Children of God for Life website, I don’t have the link here) is very strong that parents are not obligated to use tainted vaccines. So you are woefully misinformend about Catholic teaching and morality. Read all the Catholic Answers tracts first.
The one you quote did not address the morality of the tainted vaccine use since the writers were not aware or did not address the fact that the Rubella vaccine was developed from cell lines taken from an aborted baby boy and girl who were thought by their parents to have been exposed to Rubella during pregnancy. What a dastardly deed! That the parents and scientists in 1965, had no moral qualms about doing that is despicable.

By the way, about 80 aborted babies had to be used in order to develope the chicken pox vaccine! This is TRULY NAZI medicine! The Nazis called it medicalized killing. Search for Dr. Mengele and Dr. Sigmund Rascherand see how we are reinstituting their practices.

The Health Care Worker document is also not an infallible teaching document as you seem to want to imply. It is generally written document which is only as good as the scientific advice that went into it. Such documents try to show us general applications of Catholic principles in a particular area of life.

Also, that a health care worker would be responsible for the abortion of a baby by the parents because the health care worker was not immunized against Rubella is totally absurd and not in keeping with Catholic teaching. The parents and the doctors who advise abortion (which most of them do) are culpable. Use your common sense. A lack of immunity to Rubella does not force someone else to abort their baby!!!

Many times there are even no ill effects to the child in utero.
Sickness is not a sin. Being handicapped is not a sin, having no arms or legs is not sinful, but recommending and carrying the murder of someone who may be legless is a grave sin.
Read the info on the CA homepage about abortion. But using the bodies of victims of a massacre to derive medical benefit is immoral and intrinsically so.

One of the corporal works of mercy is to bury the dead, not to kill in order to use the bodies.

I have to follow my rightlly formed Catholic conscience and my children and I will not benefit from the murders of innocent children. That would make me sick, literally, to be implicated in their murders. And this position is supported by the most current direction from the Vatican on this .

Go to www.cogforlife.org/fdaalert.htm

Hopefully many of you will and we can put a stop to this immoral use of the murdered unborn. The FDA wants to do it again. They want to know what you think.

 

[Leeta]

It is good that there is an ethical alternative to the original rubella.

The CDC is not always very reliable for information on vaccine side effects since they have a big monied interest in promoting vaccine use.

Yes, the mercury seems to be a main culprit in the autism onset. A friend’s son has it and they are trying to remove the mercury from him. Some children are apperently more sensitive. Yes, thank God, the mercury has been removed, but there are still some side effects which the vaccine manufacturers can’t explain. People are injured still.

My family and I have all had chickenpox. It was no problem. Just two years ago, my youngest had it.

 

[Halo]

The vaccines do contain DNA from surgically aborted babies, wonder if this will prove to be the autism connection. That combined with another pre disposition in certain babies. The work of Dr. Wakefield is very interesting.