Emily,

  I enjoy your articles and you are obviously very talented at what you do. Today I respectively take issue with what appears to me to be a very unquestioning pro-vaccine bent of world magazine at least in the articles I have read here on the topic.

We have a medical establishment that says children at the age of eight (without parental consent in some cases) can choose to self-mutilate themselves and have a sex change and this does not cause physiological and physical trauma and should be applauded and affirmed.

We have medical establishment that says that abortion is a healthy and morally neutral option for mothers and does not cause physiological and physical trauma. 

Obviously Christians know that these are great evils and extremely harmful spiritually, physically and physiological yet modern medical science will instantly sideline anyone who does not bow down to the medical ideology of our age. 

Also as Christians we have to be concerned about truth in all circumstances and I feel it's pretty clear we are being mislead constantly about the threat and dire need for the latest vaccine to protect us from the latest media health scare. My mother-in-law remarked a while back that "no one was scared of the measles in the 1960's and it was considered a normal aspect of childhood if you heard someone had the measles you went to their house so you catch it and get true lifetime immunity." I believe at last count 3-4 Americans have died in last twenty or so odd years that 'had the measles' and what we don't hear is that many times there were other complications from other health issues that were the real story (same deal with reported so called 'flu deaths')

I feel World magazine is not consistent on how they report on medical ethics/ medical morality in regards to this issue. We are told to beware of being 'anti- science' in previous articles (https://world.wng.org/2015/03/applying_a_christian_worldview_to_the_vaccination_issue) yet very clearly the scientific community has become extremely anti-christian, ideological and polarizing.  You cannot even offer moderate dissent on abortion, evolution, lgbtq issues, climate change and now vaccines without being character assasinated, attacked viciously and slandered- how in the world can we just stand by and accept vaccine science as the gospel when the environment is like this? We should all know that these incredibly complex cocktails with varying ingredients (including aborted baby tissues) and varying degrees of quality are and can be more dangerous than the supposed health threat we are being vaccinated against. Then you add to the mix, large, regular doses of these into small developing bodies that- all of which can react much differently. 

This is not a simple issue at all.  It's a health issue, it's personal freedom issue, it's a religious freedom issue, it's a home school freedom issue, it's a government issue. Yet yet very suprisingly - World magazine seems to me to be covering this issue in a very simplistic one-sided manner like a secular magazine. 

If Christians just lay down and allow secular science to make decisions 'to what is best for the community' on our bodies and children's bodies we know this power will be abused and it's only a matter of when. Once freedoms are gone, others are usually quickly to follow suit.

I appreciate your coverage of this current issue. Yet, I take issue with some of the report. The statistic you quoted (1 in 1,000 children will develop encephalitis) is incorrect. Years ago when the measles was common this statistic was taken from the measles cases that were reported to the CDC. The cases reported to the CDC were serious illness--but many other children like myself and my siblings had the measles unreported. The estimated correct statistic is 1 in 10,000. Those of my generation have lifelong immunity to the measles. Have you seen the note that people born before 1957 do not need a vaccine? We all got the measles.

I did some research about the development of the rubella vaccine (the R in MMR). In one of the initial research studies done to develop the rubella vaccine, 35 women in Finland were injected with the rubella virus at 14 weeks of pregnancy. They carried the pregnancy for 30 more days and then the fetus was taken out by hysterotomy. I wrote about the development of the rubella vaccine here: https://carolvanderwoude.com/2015/10/rubella-virus-vaccine/

Vaccines, along with antibiotics, are the 2 greatest medical achievements in the 20th century and are responsible for saving millions of lives.  However, in the MMR vaccine (measles vaccine), the rubella component is still manufactured using a cell line that was derived from an aborted fetus from the 60’s.  Merck, the only manufacturer of the vaccine, claims that the abortion was performed with the mother’s consent.  But as a Christian, does that matter?  I don’t even know what to do with this information, as abortion is our generation’s holocaust.  As a Christian, can I honestly say that since the abortion was so long ago, it doesn’t matter now?  I’d prefer to get my kids vaccinated, but you try to find an alternative to the MMR vaccine that doesn’t include products made using an aborted fetus.  It does not currently exist.  Maybe, with enough outcry, someone will create that product.

There was a new Hep B (I think it was B) vaccine added to the mix of vaccinations for infants.  I had a spread of kids and the first ones had never had it and it was required that they have it later.  My doctor said that we could delay the one the infant was getting because he had the vaccines as separate.  So in Kindergarten the nurse called me to tell me the youngest needed that vaccine also.  When it was first added to all the vaccinations infants were getting, I questioned it because it is a lifestyle disease such as intravenous drug users, sexual transmission, etc., and not through the air or other ways like measles or chickenpox, etc., are.  Why should an infant have to have this vaccination?  I talked to the the head of epidemeology of our state and he said they are putting it in the vaccines for infants because "they won't come back later" to get the vaccine.  I called "bull" on that because no kids can start school or go to a daycare unless their vaccinations are current. Additionally, an infant was 7 times more likely to die from the vaccine than to contract it!  If delaying it somewhat would save infants that risk, then why not?  Again, he cited the so called truth that it may be too late for a kid to get the vaccine for Hep B because they would have been exposed - as he also believed the data showed a lot of kids having sex at a young age.  Well, Kindergarten?  I asked.  He said that the public comment period had ended and it was just too late for me to object.  I was glad that my doctor had the vaccinations separate and I could choose to vaccinate later before starting school instead of as infants.  And what about meningitis and the HPV?  Why are these not mandatory also?  I've seen adds for meningitis vaccines, how a person can lose limbs, etc.,  Why isn't that mandated that all kids get it also?  Why is that optional and something like a childhood disease that most recover from is mandatory.  I am not against vaccines, but I can understand why some are skeptical when we are told things like what I have described and there seems to be no way out.  It's a lifestyle disease for crying out loud!

I must say that I am shocked at the bias towards vaccination in this article. So much so that I am seriously considering cancelling my subscription to WORLD, when I've been a subscriber for well over a decade. Why? Because this is not the first time WORLD has had a bias TOWARD vaccination. The people writing articles such as this have obviously not done enough research on this subject and it shows. The author says there are no new cell lines created with aborted fetal tissue. This is not accurate. There is actually a third cell line developed recently in China. It's important for people to know that.

Vaccinations are a medical intervention that should be discussed with a person's personal physician, and not decided upon because a magazine article steers a person to conclude it would be for the greater good of society. There are many physicians who are against vaccinations in their current form because safety has not been proven. Have you heard of VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System? Have you heard of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which to date has paid out more than 4 BILLION DOLLARS in compensation to vaccine injury victims?

Do you know that no vaccine is 100% safe, 100% effective, for 100% of the population, 100% of the time? Do a search for the vaccine inserts that come in the vaccine packaging and look for the side effects, which include death. Do you know that 127 people have DIED between 2003 and 2015 from the MMR VACCINE? Do their lives not matter? Estimates vary but it is said that less than 20 people have died from the measles virus itself from 2000-2019. Where there is a RISK, there must be INFORMED CONSENT, and there must be a CHOICE, not a MANDATE.

Do you know that former Merck (the manufacturer of the MMR vaccine) scientists Stephen A. Krahling and Joan A. Wlochowski are suing Merck alleging MMR efficacy fraud? Why would I want to get a vaccination made by a company that is accused of fraud? I wouldn't.

I put this out there as food for thought. Do your own research. And consider for a moment that we are supposed to naturally aquire these illnesses during childhood so that we will have lifelong natural immunity. Vaccinations do not provide that.

I really wish Emily Belz would have taken more time to portray the other point of view more fairly. People who choose not to vaccinate have valid reasons, including religious ones which were superficially presented in this article.

Dear Emily, 

I've never written a comment on any article ever but after reading the article on vaccines I felt compelled. You did not interview any physicians or scientific researchers that disagree or even question vaccines! Why don't you reach out to parents that have vaccine injured children or lawyers that represent those children to the National Vaccine Injury Council Program? Why not learn more about what the Board Members and Staff including physicians like Barbara Loe Fisher at the National Vaccine Information Center have to say about vaccines? What about reaching out to the researchers and physicians featured on the documentary Vaxxed? Or what about reaching out to see how free speech was stifled for those filmmakers? How about digging into the history and deep reservations President Reagan had before signing The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act? Or even some former pharmaceutical sales representatives that detail how much marketing and money have to say in our medical care? Or my favorite the simple history of medicine--everything from blood letting, electric shock, thalidomide? 

I do enjoy your work, but this article was one-sided on a very complex issue.  

MB

"....the MMR vaccine was licensed based on clinical trials which in total had less than 1,000 participants and far more adverse reactions than previously acknowledged."

And they want every single man, woman and child in the US to get this vaccine. And people will trust that the MMR vaccine is safe and effective, when the truth is it is NOT as safe and effective as people believe, or rather assume, it is. You have to do your own research on every single thing you put into your body.

Pediatricians get bonuses for FULLY vaccinating a certain percentage of kids in their practices. That's why practices are kicking out families who choose not to vaccinate. They lose thousands of dollars in bonuses. It's about the money, not your health. Because if doctors have done the research and truly understand the pros and cons, they would allow parents to choose what is best for their family and give vaccines to those who want them, and not pressure those who do not. DO. THE. RESEARCH. YOURSELF.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mmr-vaccine-licensing-called-following-13...

Uhg! Another pro-vaccine article. There are areas in China that have over 97% MMR vaccination rates and they still have outbreaks. There are two types of vaccine failure: one is that not everyone produces an immune response; the second is waning immunity. Most vaccines last 10 years at most. Meningitis vaccines last maybe 4 or 5 years. You will never reach 95% herd immunity (which only applies to actually catching the illness, rather than vaccines) because of these two problems. I know a woman whose child died from encephalitis from the MMR vaccine. I know another one whose child is deaf from the MMR vaccines. Something that was supposed to protect their children actually killed and maimed them. Another woman’s child now has epilepsy thanks to dTap vaccine.

And do you understand you cannnot sue the vaccine manufacturers for injury. No, you have to go to vaccine court. And only if your child’s reaction is listed in the table of reactions can you get money. If your child’s particular reaction is NOT in that table, it becomes an adversarial process where you have to prove your case. And then you usually cannot talk about it to others if you win.

If you want me to get any more vaccines then: do the safety studies that have never been done; do studies against inert placebos; no human or animal cells, period; no neurotoxins, period; every batch must be spectral analyzed for contamination; and remove the protections from the manufacturers so we can sue them again.