Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Diseases of the flesh and spirit

Several weeks ago I heard a report on the radio about the new Shingles vaccine and a new 'epidemic' of Shingle occurrences. I shook my head in wonder how these vaccine companies have us going ...

The Chicken Pox vaccine (developed using tissue from an aborted baby) came into use some 20 years ago or so? First it was optional, now it is mandatory for entrance into the school system in most states. The Chicken Pox vaccine needs a booster several years after the initial injection.

Of course, Chicken Pox is the source of shingles, and it has been found that receivers of the CP vaccine are much more likely to contract Shingles later in life. The Chicken Pox virus lives in your system for ever once introduced and may exhibit itself as shingles later in life.

The reason Shingles has become more prevalent is that adult exposure to Chicken Pox (if the adult had Chicken Pox as a child) acts like a booster vaccine itself. Now, children aren't getting Chicken Pox due to the vaccine, so adults don't get their natural booster, and the children have a higher risk of Shingles due to the vaccine itself. Thus the vaccine companies now have a reason for the new Shingles vaccine.

Here we have it: the vaccine companies develop an unnecessary* vaccine by unethical methods, lobby the states successfully to mandate it, and thus create new medical problems that require a new vaccine. How sweet a deal this is!

*Chicken Pox is largely a harmless disease if contracted as a child. However, it can be serious and even deadly if contracted by an adult.

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Am reading Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory. I didn't think I would like it. I have tended to find many of these recommended literary gems to be in fact, boring. But not so this one. It is a page-turner. As I read the sufferings due to sin, I am hoping for redemption-but am not optimistic for the priest at this point. We should pray more for all our priests.

Oremus pro invicem!

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