MORAL REFLECTIONS ON CHILDHOOD & ADULT VACCINES AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA
Updates: This document was updated last on 10-Oct-2015,
and I would welcome any suggestions or corrections. Please e-mail me at
vaccinations [AT] journeywithgod [DOT] org (replace [AT] with @ and [DOT]
with . and remove any spaces).
Introduction: I am a Catholic father and husband that (as a result of the birth
of our child and God's Providence) started to research the Church's teaching on
vaccines. What I found was profound, and therefore I would like to share these findings
with all Christians, and al those that are endeavouring to be morally correct in
their actions. This work is dedicated to Our Holy Mother (As our previous Holy Father
used to say: 'Totus Tuus' [1]).
Considering that the research involved accessing many different departments, agencies and websites I have decided to make a "reference list" at the bottom of this page. Please review the different sources quoted as they often contain more information that may assist you in forming your own conscience about these matters.
The moral issue:
This is something that every person who is considering having themselves or their child vaccinated should now: The production of certain vaccines is connected with acts of procured abortion.
There is a good document on this from the Vatican Pontifical Academy for Life (established by Pope John Paul II [2]): "Moral Reflections On Vaccines Prepared From Cells Derived From Aborted Foetuses" [3] (please read this document first and then return here)
In short, I think that this document can be summarized using the following excerpts:
Looking at each of these points individually:
Point 1: In relation to the morally objectionable
vaccines
Glossary:
'Pertussis' is the same as 'Whooping Cough'
'Hepatitis B' is not the same as 'Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)'
'Hib' is the same as 'Haemophilus influenzae type b'
'Poliomyelitis' is the same as 'Polio'
'Varicella' is the same as 'Chicken Pox'
'Rubella' is the same as 'German Measles'
'Measles' is the same as '"Ordinary" Measles'
Sources used:
A. For Australia, there are a number of vaccines available that are morally
objectionable. A good starting point for in-depth research is the following document
from eMJA "The Medical Journal of Australia": "Vaccine
components and constituents: responding to consumer concerns"
[4]. Of special interest in this document is the list of childhood and travel
vaccines listed in the "Conclusions" section (be careful printing this document
as the list of vaccines does not always print correctly - double check to make sure
you have the entire list)
B. The list of vaccinations to be administered (provided by Medicare Australia): "Current Immunisation Schedule" [5]
Comparing these 2 lists we can identify a number
of certain and/or possible moral issues with using certain vaccinations:
A few notes first about this list:
Age Disease immunised against Moral or Unmoral Vaccine? Birth Hepatitis B Not researched 2 months Diphtheria Infanrix® Hexa: 2m (GSK)
See note on Hepatitis B [note]Tetanus Pertussis Polio Hib Hepatitis B Pneumococcal (refer to note 1) Prevenar 13 (Pfizer) Rotavirus (refer to note 5) Rotarix®: after 6 weeks of age & before 14 weeks (GSK) 4 months Diphtheria Infanrix® Hexa: 4m (GSK)
See note on Hepatitis B [note]Tetanus Pertussis Polio Hib Hepatitis B Pneumococcal (refer to note 1) Prevenar 13 (Pfizer) Rotavirus (refer to note 5) Rotarix®: before 24 weeks of age & more than 4 weeks since last one (GSK) 6 months Diphtheria Infanrix® Hexa: 6m (GSK)
See note on Hepatitis B [note]Tetanus Pertussis Polio Hib (refer to note 2) Hepatitis B (or at 12 months) Pneumococcal (refer to note 1) Prevenar 13 (Pfizer) Rotavirus (refer to note 5) Not necessary if Rotarix® was used (refer to note #6 on the Medicare site) 12 months Measles Priorix: MORAL ISSUE Mumps Rubella Hib Not researched yet Hepatitis B (or at 6 months) Not researched yet Meningococcal C (refer to note 3) Not researched yet 18 months Varicella (refer to note 4) (Varivax® vaccine - Chicken Pox) - MORAL ISSUE [14] Pneumococcal (refer to note 7) Prevenar 13 (Pfizer)?
Could this maybe also be given earlier? See the "How long will your child be having the injections" notes in the "Prevenar 13 CI [Customer Information]" leaflet linked to below:
it seems to specify that normally there are 4 injections, at least 4 weeks apart.4 years /
48 monthsDiphtheria Not researched yet Tetanus Not researched yet Pertussis Not researched yet Polio Not researched yet Measles Priorix: MORAL ISSUE Mumps Rubella
Summary of this table:
2 Warnings:
Information on vaccines from the pharmaceutical companies:
Further notes and considerations when using this list:
Point 2: In relation to our duties to ourselves, our children and society
The Vatican document is clear on this:
"We have a grave responsibility to use alternative vaccines and to make a conscientious objection with regard to those which have moral problems"
The list of available moral vaccines that we have
used can be found above, or you can do your own research, using the
procedure listed above.
As indicated, we have to "make a conscientious objection with regard to those
which have moral problems". This can be done quite easily by filling out this
form: "Medicare
Australia Conscientious Objection Form" [12]. This form
has to be signed by your healthcare provider as well. As far as our research
goes, this will NOT affect your eligibility for a payment for Vaccinations under
the Australian Family Tax Benefit System.
Point 3A: In relation to our duties to society
The Vatican document states: "such cooperation occurs in a context of moral coercion of the conscience of parents, who are forced to choose to act against their conscience or otherwise, to put the health of their children and of the population as a whole at risk. This is an unjust alternative choice, which must be eliminated as soon as possible."
It further clarifies our duties in relation to society: "as regards the vaccines without an alternative, the need to contest so that others may be prepared must be reaffirmed"
This can be done by contacting the current Minister of Health using e-mail:
To do this, go to the Department of Health and Ageing Website Homepage [13] and follow these steps:
1. Click on the blue "Ministers" button on the
top navigation bar
2. Click on the first option in the list that opens (i.e. the current Minister of
Health and Ageing) (currently at 22.01.08 "The Hon. Sussan Ley MP - Minister for
Health and Ageing")
3. Click on "Contact <name>" on the bottom left in the sidebar menu (currently "Contact
Hon. Sussan Ley")
4. Click on the e-mail address shown and your e-mail program (like outlook express
should open). Here is a suggested letter:
Dear Minister, As you would likely be aware, some of the childhood vaccines used in Australia have been prepared from human cell lines of foetal origin, using tissues from aborted human foetuses as a source of such cells. An example of this would be the combined vaccine Priorix against Measles, Mumps & Rubella given at 12 months. Another example is Varivax® given at 18 months against Varicella. There are 2 issues with this that I would like to point out: 1. It is not widely publicized, nor is it made clear to parents who receive this vaccine for their children that the original creation of these vaccines involved procured acts of voluntary abortion. This creates a moral issue for people who are against abortion, including people of the Christian/Catholic Faith May I kindly point you to the following important document; http://journeywithgod.org/Vatican_Pontifical_Acadamy_for_Life_on_vaccines.pdf (This is a copy of the 'Moral Reflections On Vaccines Prepared From Cells Derived From Aborted Foetuses' Document obtained earlier from the Academia Pro Vita website) 2. There are no alternative vaccines available to Australians for the examples mentioned above. There are currently no moral vaccines for Christian/Catholic people who want to protect their children against Measles, Mumps, Rubella and/or Varicella. Can I please ask you to: A. Consider the above, and take appropriate steps to inform all people of the full implications of having these vaccines administered to their children, including moral implications? B. Research if there are any moral alternative vaccines (i.e. vaccines not connected with procured acts of abortion) available in other countries and to start importing these into Australia? There may also be moral vaccines available in other countries that protect at least against some of these diseases (i.e. moral vaccines that are specific for one disease instead of a combined vaccine) C. Raise this
issue with Australian & International medical research centres asking them
to research, prepare and create alternative vaccines that are not morally
objectionable |
5. Also add your name, address, phone, and e-mail
to the bottom of this letter so that the Health Minister may be aware that this
letter he or she is receiving is from different people.
Alternatively, you can also use the address details shown on the website above to
send a letter rather than an e-mail. The current mail contact details for the minister
are:
The Hon. Sussan Ley MP, Minister for Health and Ageing
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Please check to ensure Sussan Ley is still the minister for health and ageing
and the time of sending your letter.
Point 3B & 4 & 5: In relation to our rights to protect our children & the
morality of such decisions
In this regard, maybe one can dwell on footnote #15 on Rubella (German Measles) in the Vatican Document, as well
as the text in the document that links to it, and these things then in combination with the
overall document summary. It is also good to see if there are any new vaciness which do
not have moral issues, as well as considering the status of various diseases, both locally
as well as globally.
It is not an easy decision to make.
We are currently researching if there are alternative vaccinations available.
As to vaccinating our children or not, our thought/decision process (assuming no alternative vaccines are available) is summarized in the following graphic:
If something is not clear within this graphic, I'd be happy to discuss/elaborate via email
(email me at the address listed at the start of this page).
As for the actual decision, a (learned) Priest told us that since the event is 10+ years ago
the remoteness of the 'passive material cooperation' is very remote and he recommended to Vaccinate.
He also negated the 'God uses bad for good so we can do the same' as shown in the graphic
('God uses bad past for future good'), as 'we are not God' - which made sense to some extent.
After prayer, and based on the above graph overview + the Priest's advice, we have decide
to move ahead with vaccinating our children.
Praying for all the best in your personal decision process. God bless.
References:
[1] "Totus Tuus" - Holy See Press
Office.
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/insigne/totus-tuus_en.html
[2] "About Us" - Vatican Pontifical Academy for Life.
http://www.academiavita.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=54&lang=en
[3] "Moral Reflections On Vaccines Prepared From Cells Derived
From Aborted Foetuses" - Academia Pro Vita.
http://journeywithgod.org/Vatican_Pontifical_Acadamy_for_Life_on_vaccines.pdf
As retrieved from http://www.academiavita.org/template.jsp?sez=Documenti&pag=testo/vacc/vacc&lang=english on 05-12-2007
[4] "Vaccine components and constituents: responding to consumer
concerns" - MJA.
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/184_04_200206/eld10500_fm.html
[5] "Current Immunisation Schedule" - Medicare Australia.
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/patients/acir/schedule.shtml
[6] "Infanrix® Hexa" - GlaxoSmithKline Australia.
http://www.gsk.com.au/products_vaccines_detail.aspx?view=44
[7] "Prevenar 13®" - Pfizer Australia.
http://www.pfizer.com.au/sites/au/Products/Pages/AllProducts.aspx
[8] "Rotarix®" - GlaxoSmithKline Australia.
http://www.gsk.com.au/products_vaccines_detail.aspx?view=73
[9] "Hepatitis B" - Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_B
[10] "Epidemiology of hepatitis B" - Shapiro CN.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=8392167
[11] "The Yellow Book" - NatHNac.
http://www.nathnac.org/yellow_book/03.htm
[12] "Conscientious Objection Form" - Medicare Australia.
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/pubs/forms/files/ma_conscientious_objection_form.pdf
[13] "Homepage" - Department of Health and Ageing.
http://www.health.gov.au/
[14] "Varivax®" - Merck & Co.,INC..
http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/v/varivax/varivax_pi.pdf
[15] "Transition to Prevenar 13® on the National
Immunisation Program" - Department of Health, Victoria State Goverment
http://docs.health.vic.gov.au/docs/doc/EC2A346DFCE9FBA4CA2578B200123F36/$FILE/Transition%20to%20Prevenar%2013%20fact%20sheet%2013.pdf