As if the world didn’t have enough problems we now have Covid confusion.
It would be nice if the only options were vax, don’t vax, or seek a religious exemption. But now mandated vaxxing and vaccine passports are being seriously discussed just about everywhere. It’s enough to drive one crazy.
Sadly, instead of the Catholic Church speaking in a single voice of calm and reason, our prelates are only adding to the confusion.
Catholic Confusion
In January of this year, Pope Francis said,
“I believe that, ethically, everyone must take the vaccine.”
But in December 2020, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) stated that “vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation” and “therefore, it must be voluntary.
Basically, Pope Francis was saying ‘it would be a good thing, not an evil thing if everyone got the vaccine.’ But note that he said, “I believe.” He was stating a personal opinion; he was not attempting to set Church policy. At the same time, since morals deals with right and wrong, the CDF was saying ‘it is okay to not get the vaccine – not getting the vaccine is not wrong!’
Confused yet? Keep reading.
In New York, San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey, Chicago, and Philadelphia priests cannot give parishioners religious exemption letters from coronavirus vaccine mandates. But in Colorado and South Dakota, religious exemptions can be given out. It also appears that religious exemptions can be gotten in Gallup, New Mexico.
Meanwhile, the “Catholic Health Association (CHA), the national leadership organization for Catholic health care, on July 27 strongly encouraged all health care personnel to get a COVID-19 vaccination.” Apparently, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, TX took this encouragement to heart and has mandated that “all [El Paso Diocese] Church employees and ministry volunteers must be vaccinated.”
However, “The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) lists a form letter on its website for individual Catholics seeking religious exemptions from vaccine mandates.”
Recapping
So to recap –
- Pope Francis says, in his personal opinion, it’s good to get the vaccine
- The CDF says it’s not wrong to not get the vaccine
- The CHA is encouraging people to get vaccinated
- The NCBC is providing a form letter for those who seek a religious exemption from the vaccinations
- If you live in the NY, Chicago, or Philadelphia Archdioceses, or in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Monterey you cannot get a religious exemption to the vaccine
- In Colorado, South Dakota, and possibly Gallup, New Mexico you can get a religious exemption to the vaccine
- If you are an El Paso Diocese Church employee or ministry volunteer, you don’t get a choice – you must get vaccinated.
But it gets even more confusing.
According to the Catholic News Agency, the NCBC “wrote in a July 2 statement that it “does not endorse mandated COVID-19 immunization” with any of the three approved vaccines.” And this has Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich in a tizzy. NCBC Board members “have told CNA that Cardinal Cupich has urged that the center retract its guidance against mandated immunization.”
So now we’ve got this “Vaccine Passports” idea being bandied about and a Catholic Cardinal and the Bishop of El Paso seem to be 100 percent in favor of mandated vaccinations. Cupich, in fact, is mandating that “all archdiocesan employees and clergy” must “receive the vaccine for COVID-19 within the next six weeks.” The only exemptions will be those “for medical reasons.” Other prelates, however, say that we should let the CDF statement be our guide – that we should follow the dictates of our conscience.
Are you ready to start tearing your hair out yet?
The Delta Variant
And since viruses do mutate, we now have the Delta variant to worry about.
The CDC says:
- The Delta variant is more contagious
- Some data suggest the Delta variant might cause more severe illness than previous strains in unvaccinated persons [Italics added for emphasis]
- Unvaccinated people remain the greatest concern
- Fully vaccinated people with Delta variant breakthrough infections can spread the virus to others. However, vaccinated people appear to be infectious for a shorter period.
However, as Paul Kengor notes in an article at Crises, no one is talking about the 120 million Americans who have had COVID-19. The question now is, are people who have had Covid better off, or are people who have been vaccinated better off? And which group – those who have had Covid or those who were vaccinated – is actually doing a better job of getting us to the gold ring of herd immunity? There is already talk of booster shots for the vaccinated.
But if you’ve already had Covid it looks like your immune system may be in better shape to fight off the Delta variant. As Robert M. Kaplan, a faculty member at Stanford Medicine’s Clinical Excellence Research Center and a distinguished professor emeritus at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, points out:
As in previous pandemics, the rapid fall in new cases preceded the widespread distribution of vaccines. Although vaccines deserve much credit for declining rates of Covid-19, the protection provided by natural infection has been underappreciated. Emerging evidence shows that previously infected people have effective and durable immunity that rivals or exceeds the benefits of vaccines.
To Vax or Not to Vax
Of course, none of this answers the question “Should I get the Covid vaccine or not?”
I’ve never been an “early adopter” of technology, software, or anything else. I prefer to wait until all the “bugs” (no pun intended) have been found and eliminated before I buy. But with the Covid vaccines, for me, from the get-go there has been a very significant added concern about how the vaccines were developed and tested.
Yes, people have died after contracting Covid, and I am not making light of these deaths. But it does have an excellent survivability rate.
So I will follow my conscience. I will not take an abortion-tainted vaccine to protect myself from a virus that I am really not afraid of contracting. Doing so would be pure hypocrisy.
If however, one really is afraid of coming down with Covid, he or she should feel free to get vaccinated.
Vaccine Concerns
But there is an added concern with the vaccines. Despite many assurances to the contrary, we do not really know how safe the vaccines are. As noted on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) website:
Underreporting” is one of the main limitations of passive surveillance systems, including VAERS. The term, underreporting refers to the fact that VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events [emphasis added].
As Robert G. Marshall points out in an article at Catholic Culture:
Between December 4, 2020 and August 13, 2021, the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) counted 595,622 adverse events following COVID vaccination, 13,086 deaths, 81,850 serious injuries including deaths, 17,228 permanently disabled.
So based on VAERS own acknowledgment, the real numbers could be significantly higher.
My Experience, Your Experience
Some 14 of my family members have had Covid, including our oldest son who has Multiple Sclerosis. Because of his MS, his immune system is severely compromised. He had a rough three weeks but he survived it. And since he lives with my wife and me, we were both exposed to the virus. Neither of us caught it. Maybe we have natural immunity.
Older family members (my wife’s 93-year-old mother and my wife’s two brothers, both in their 70s with underlying medical conditions) had only mild symptoms. Still, others hardly knew they had it.
And then there are our friends and the friends of family members who have had Covid. For a few, it was like a real bad flu but for others, it was no big deal.
All of this is, of course, anecdotal. If you have a dear friend or loved one who died from Covid, you may view the virus differently. Even so, it does not change the fact that Covid has an extremely high survival rate.
No One Knows For Sure
If you get Covid, common sense dictates that you should quarantine yourself so you don’t spread it. So contrary to what the likes of Michael Sean Winters is saying, it’s not like you are automatically harming others or contributing to the spread of Covid if you don’t get vaccinated.
Also, no one is sure that asymptomatic people with the virus can spread the virus. Even the CDC website says “Remember that some people without symptoms may be able to spread virus” [Italics added]. I call such statements “weasel wording.” It’s like saying ‘we’re not real sure about this either way, but we’ll make it sound like we are by telling people to REMEMBER this.‘ But the CDC also says that people who have tuberculosis and who are asymptomatic cannot infect others. (Both Covid and tuberculosis are spread through the air.)
Contracting Covid and getting over it may do more for the highly valued herd immunity than getting vaccinated does. So the “common good” may actually be better served by those who are not afraid of Covid.
In fact, as this article notes, “A new pre-print Israeli study has found that people with natural immunity to COVID-19 could be 13 times less likely to contract the respiratory virus than those who were solely vaccinated against the disease.”
The Takeaway
I said a novena to the Blessed Virgin asking her to protect my family from Covid-19 last year. So far she has done so. Some family members have caught it but no one has died from it.
I am not anti-science. Science, including medical science, has contributed immensely to our quality of life. But I find it disconcerting that our Pope and some of our prelates are telling us to put our faith in science and abortion-tainted vaccines rather than trusting in God.
As I wrote last year,
[E]very Catholic does know that our time on earth is limited. Our real home is Heaven. In dying, if we have kept God’s Commandments, have led good, moral lives, and are sincerely sorry for our sins, we will live again, in heaven, in total joy, with God our Creator. So why such fear of a microbe?
In my opinion, putting our complete trust in God is a better prescription for living than getting vaccinated with an abortion-tainted vaccine. And we should all be free to follow the dictates of our own conscience in regard to the vaccines. As the CDF said, it is okay to not get vaccinated.
70 thoughts on “To Vax or Not to Vax – is the Covid Confusion Driving You Crazy?”
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The Catholic Medical Association has a well-researched paper explaining stem cell lines and the connection to the fetus whose cells were used for some of the covid vaccines, or used only in testing of the covid vaccines (Pfizer & Moderna).
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00243639211014621
The lines have been used in research for most of modern medicine, not just vaccines, and the connection to abortion is very, very remote. They don’t know if it was a miscarriage or an induced abortion. It is well worth the read, which doesn’t take long but gives a very good explanation.
Hi Marcy,
It is true that the vaccines were developed from cells made from cells made from cells of a single aborted baby (HK293). I tend to think the CMA is being charitable in saying the cells could have come from a miscarried baby, but, in any case, the designation 293 means that there were 292 failed attempts to isolate kidney cells from 292 other aborted babies. So, even though the connection to HK293 is remote, almost 300 murdered babies also contributed to this ‘great’ breakthrough. This is the fuller extent of the remote, passive, material cooperation with abortion.
Kyle @ 11:06-
I certainly do sympathize with your wife and her plight. There are plenty of very effective treatments that regrettably are not being made available to those who contract Covid. My understanding is that legally such treatments must be presumed unavailable in order for these vaccines” to be available under the EUA. Could that explain why these treatments, touted by treating doctors, are not being made available?
Also one of the scandalous aspects to all this has been the utter lack of encouragement from the health community to take basic care of fundamentals such as protecting and enhancing one’s immune system by way of sensible dieting and generous usage of vitamin supplements and zinc. For every public service announcement touting the shots why haven’t there been 10 urging people to take common sense measures to protect their own immune system since it will always be one’s best defense against any virus?
Further, you are laboring under the assumption that taking the shots confirms immunity. They do not. Those who take them still spread the virus. In fact official sources from the UK and Israel confirm that those who are vaccinated are coming down with the Delta variant and being hospitalized at an alarming rate.
Prayers and best wishes for you and your wife.
There are a few treatments that legitimately help with COVID, but there is sadly no magic bullet. Anyone who says they have a treatment that will cure almost all cases of COVID is selling snake oil. And as with all times in history, there are plenty of snake oil salesmen. When a disease has a recovery rate north of 90%, it’s pretty easy to say you have a cure because most people will get better regardless of of treatment.
And as for general health, it is always a good idea to try to be healthy. And I think doctors generally promote healthy behavior. But that’s not an overall preventative for COVID. Healthy people die from COVID too, and people can’t become young again or un-immunocompromised. AIDS is a virus, but like COVID, being healthy won’t help you avoid it.
And the vaccines are not perfect. Especially against the Delta variant. We know they don’t make everyone 100% immune. This is exactly why it’s important that we work together to reduce the spread. The vaccines do very much help reduce the spread because they reduce the likelihood of transmission in most people. We all still need to be safe until the number of new infections begin to drop (at least in my area and most areas of the US), but the vaccines will help us get back to normal both socially and economically by reducing the spread and reducing the risk to the community. Right now the hospitals in my state are full. A trauma case (car accident on the interstate) resulted in the victims being flown hundreds of miles to the nearest available trauma bed. This is unacceptable. We need to get the spread and hospitalizations down because right now the risk of dying from all causes is greatly increased. Because of the COVID spread, activities of daily living are all more dangerous (i.e. driving a car). My point is that the vaccines are not perfect, but they are a very important tool in helping to keep us all safe in so many ways. I wish they were perfect, but we shouldn’t let striving for the perfect be a hindrance in accepting the very good.
Best wishes to you and your family as well!
Kyle, it’s not a handful that have died from these vaccines, it’s at least thousands in US if not more. If you developed myocarditis from vaccine then later had a heart attack and died it wouldn’t be listed as from vaccine but it is a result of it.
I have known of none who have died from Covid. I have had several have adverse reactions to the vaccines including paralysis.
Other vaccines are pulled if death reaches 50. Why are we going beyond for these?
It isn’t worth it.
https://www.c19vaxreactions.com/
This. Is. Not. True. Period.
The vaccines do very rarely cause myocarditis, but thousands of people have not died from it. A woman may have just died from it in New Zealand, but there were 0 confirmed deaths in the US as of July (see link below). There have been around 40 reports of myocarditis per million second shot vaccinations. Again, to reiterate, none of these US cases of myocarditis as of last July had resulted in death. If myocarditis leads to a heart attack and death, it would be reported in the VAERS system that Gene has referenced. We would know about it if this was happening, but it is not happening. The risk is not zero, but it is very, very, very close to zero.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7027e2.htm
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2781600
Also, who made that website you linked to? There is no sourcing to show who is behind creating it. From what I could find, it wouldn’t qualify as a source on a high school research paper. My links were from the CDC and the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr Hertz is one of the main one behind the site. She had a very adverse effect from the shot. It’s trying to find answers and sharing stories. You will find the medical field doesn’t know what to do really w those who have these reactions.
Also, one who speaks on the blog was part of the trial and they excluded her when she had a reaction.
I went looking when my one client had sudden neurological issue, like Alzheimer’s then death.
I have since had a good friend who was hospitalized with myocarditis/2weeks. I had a friend’s 16yo d have a severe reaction/had to be revived and hospitalized.
I have a coworkers who still cannot work bc her arm is paralyzed.
People do have side effects. That is absolutely true. My wife had a kidney side effect after her third dose recently. It sounds very similar to what the EU is looking into (this was even referenced media section of the link you posted). But it is being looked into it and these effects aren’t being hidden. My wife’s case is being looked into, reported, and no one is trying to hide anything. Luckily, it looks like she’ll be just fine after a few days of being rather miserable. Everyone else that I know (including myself) has had very minor effects – usually no more than feeling sick for a day or two after the shot.
The problem with websites like c19vaxreactions is that we don’t know who is behind it. I couldn’t find Dr. Hertz’s name on that website anywhere let alone any other doctors willing to put their names behind it. That is the #1 sign of a scam. There should be someone willing to put their name and credentials behind it if it is truth. Most doctors care about their patients, and they would be willing to put their names behind this if it were true. We have no clue what motivation Dr. Hertz might have to start this website and make these claims (if she is behind it). It’s possible she really believes these things, but it is also possible she stands to gain something. If she really had a horrible reaction, there are plenty of legal avenues she could take. Given that she’s not taking any of those routes (or even putting her name on the website), this wreaks of deceit.
The media loves to find stories that are extreme/unlikely and cause fear (it improves their ratings), but they also have to have a level of proof. If there were countless claims like this that could be verified even as plausible, the media would be reporting them to get the clicks/views. The coverage was very extreme when the J&J shot caused blood clots in a very small number of patients. They made it seem (to a degree higher than they should have based on the numbers in my opinion) like those shots were definitely going to kill you. And the authorities rightly paused giving those shots until they could come up with a treatment and add a warning to make sure people were aware that it could happen in very rare cases. The authorities are looking for adverse reactions, and there are always a small number of doctors that will say crazy (and sometime wrong or damaging) things to try to make a buck. I’m not sure what the story is with Dr. Hertz, but there is nowhere near enough available information on her and her claims to make me believe any of what she’s putting out there.
It’s less the confusion that’s driving me crazy as the unrelenting threats, bullying, pressure etc, some implied, some direct. Most folks with a modicum of common sense can be persuaded that something is in their best interest. When they have to be threatened, that sets off alarms. God and his good works do not manifest in such a manner, but the work of the devil does. And the push to meekly submit to the taking of these products has a diabolical feel to it. It’s probably about a lot more than Covid. It’s likely about a new era of intense social control. Anyone who thinks things will ever “get back to normal” should rethink. If the entire world took the shots tomorrow, those lusting for limitless power would find new justifications to forge ahead. It likely won’t stop until the day of the Great Reset is upon us. Covid and the related V’s represent only the opening salvo.
I think the frustration is that at this point, common sense does say that the vaccines are in your personal best interest as well as in the best interest of everyone else. With heightened levels of spread, I am worried for people like my wife who is immunocompromised. I feel like those who are refusing to get vaccinated are threatening my and my family.
I get where you’re coming from by not feeling pressured, but the pressure comes from people’s fear for their own safety. We’ve had horrible leadership failures in this pandemic, and many of our leaders have put very bad, wrong, and damaging information out there. But there is nothing diabolical about wanting to protect your family. I assume that’s the same thing you’re trying to do.
I also don’t understand what kind of power this would give anyone? We’ve mandated vaccines in schools for decades without any power-related issues. I don’t understand why this would be any different or what type of power anyone is seeking other than the ability to defend oneself against a potentially deadly virus?
The reason this vaccine is not like polio or even flu is bc it doesn’t use any virus, dead or alive, in the making of it. I guess the best analogy I heard lately is it is supposed to boost your immune system so if/when you are exposed, it won’t slow you down.
Except this has not been the case and serious side effects have occurred which have been ignored or even disregarded as psychological.
So, yeah, I’m passing on this so called vaccine.
We just got over the latest strain. The hardest part for those in my house was to stay put. I did develop a little pneumonia but the medicine the dr prescribed worked.
There is no reason for me to risk a heart attack, GBS, etc to make someone else feel safer or better.
I have witnessed an older person go from normal, to serve Alzheimer’s, to death within a month of 2nd shot.
Pass.
Those who scream misinformation need to get off the internet and turn off news and go talk w people
Talking to people is actually a poor way of determining the facts around vaccination. When you’re dealing with low likelihood events, you need to get data on a large number of individuals – much larger than the number of people you can talk too.
I’ve talked to plenty of people about the vaccine, and no one has died after getting the vaccine. I do know people that have died from COVID though. Based on me talking to people, you should definitely get the vaccine and stay as far away from COVID as possible. That happens to match the actual large-scale data, but me having talked to some people that were vaccinated and didn’t have bad experiences would not be a good way to assess the risk of vaccination.
And in regard to your story, people will continue to die after getting vaccinated, but it doesn’t mean they died due to vaccination. The 13,000 deaths in the VAERS system that Gene references is actually low compared to how many people should be expected to die in the months after vaccination.
If you ran a biological warfare lab, what would be your agenda? The most important component is the receptor which internalizes the virus. Preferably you would want it internalized by lung cells. Next you would develop something fairly benign, but hack into hospital computers throughout the world to watch how it spreads. Finally once you have the perfect receptor, you only need to forcefully vaccinate you own people, before developing a more sinister version – which is the easy part.
While most people are immune to the benign version, this does not necessary mean they have antibodies developed against its receptor specifically. Yet only the receptor is on the shopping list for more sinister versions.
Who is trying to wage biological warfare in this theory? And what would their goals be?
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I very much appreciate this article Gene. I am on the exact same page as you – I could have written this!
The lack of LONG TERM safety data on these ‘vaccines’ is a huge risk I am not ready to take. All indications are that there will be many.
There has been a TON of media brainwashing about Covid (I have 35 years in electronic media) … I know how the game is played – many have taken the bait.
Blessings to you!
Did your parents deny you the Polio vaccine waiting for “long term” data? Sorry, that excuse doesn’t hold water either. Especially that the “emergency use” qualification has been removed from at least the Pfizer vaccine now.
Ron-Luv ya man.!
Gene-Luv ya man!
We have priests, bishops, cardinals and man currently wearing papal white all saying different and contradictory things re vaccinations for this chinese virus; and also re legal religious exemptions.
So Gene you are spot on: “So I will follow my conscience. I will not take an abortion-tainted vaccine to protect myself from a virus that I am really not afraid of contracting. Doing so would be pure hypocrisy.”
Me too. I am 74, have survived the chinese virus earlier this year, and the lingering chinese cough. My doctor says, at least for now, for medical reasons, do NOT get the vaccine. Doc told me of one recent case of elderly chinese virus survivors group got the vaccine, and ALL of them then died.
I can’t go wrong when medical science, some prelates, and my conscience [well formed with facts and doctrine] tell me the same thing.
Guy, Texas
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No sarcasm here:
Gene Van Son: the Voice of Reason.
There are many other voices here that
are diametrically opposed to Reason.
Shall we call them the voices of “Feelings, nothing
more than Feelings ……..”
Thank You, Gene
Thank you Bob.
Yeah, that’s always “Act II” of these movies. Agreeing and thanking only those who agree with you. And snarking about anything else, no matter how constructive.
Of the 145 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the United States from Dec. 14, 2020 through March 29, 2021, “VAERS received 2,509 reports of death (0.0017%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine.” Having reviewed “available clinical information including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records,” the CDC found “no evidence that vaccination contributed to patient deaths”
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vaers-deaths/fact-check-vaers-data-does-not-prove-thousands-died-from-receiving-covid-19-vaccines-idUSL1N2LV0NY
This seems to contradict what you have written,
Yes, we should all trust the bureaucrats in the swamp. They are righteous people. They never lie to us. And their lapdogs in the lamestream media are paragons of virtue. All I was saying in regard to the VAERS section in the article is that there is reason to be skeptical. Owners of data can manipulate it as they see fit.
Gene,
I just saw your response to me. My “kind words” remain! Great, great article.
What I imagined are situations in Catholic churches where unvaccinated people are asked to wear masks. For someone opting against a mask, basic honesty indicates “they should be forthright and NOT act as though they were vaccinated.” The issue is not mask effectiveness but honesty in communal situations.
I still say bravo 👏!
Thanks again Joe, and thanks for the explanation. We do agree on that.
What you are inadvertently practicing here is gross prejudice; this general assumption that the un-vaxed ARE contagious, will spread it and therefore need to be identified. If one could, like dipping a finger at the font, have an immediate readout as to whether or not ones guilty, I think it would be shown that the overwhelming number are just as safe as you. However, the fault lies with the CDC negligently ignoring the need and expediency to develop such a means.
As to asymptomatic spreading of the virus
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/asymptomatic-coronavirus-infections-contribute-to-over-50-percent-of-spread
A single study that used a “mathematical model” does not definitively prove asymptomatic transmission. It only says additional research is needed.
There are problems with VAERS numbers.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/05/antivaccine-activists-use-government-database-side-effects-scare-public
Check the link in one of my response to Kyle. It is from an 8/20/2021 VAERS data sheet specific to vaccines for Covid-19.
Did you read the link Joe posted? It talks about the specific error that you are making in reading that data. You can post that link all you want, but it doesn’t mean what you seem to think it means.
Yes Kyle, I did read the article – carefully, three times. It is talking about 4,000 deaths (as of May 26, 2021) of which “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) subsequent investigations have found no indication that deaths were caused by COVID-19 vaccines, save in a small subset with an extremely rare clotting disorder linked to one vaccine.” It also says that “the [Tucker Carlson] reports are not vetted.” But then later on it says “that among the approximately 4000 deaths after COVID-19 vaccination reported to VAERS at the time of his [Tucker Carlson’s] broadcast, nearly 80% were in people 60 and older.”
So it would seem they really were vetted and that there really were 4,000 deaths. This is called “playing word games” – “the data does not say what you think it says but what we want you to think it says.”
As of 8/20/2021 a search of VAERS says there are 13,086 deaths attributable to the Covid vaccines. The accompanying “case details” report is 62,335 pages long, with each page containing about 12 reports (748,020 cases). So either there are 13,086 deaths directly attributable to the vaccines reported out in those 748,020 cases or the VAERS search function is so bad it should never be used for anything. And if it’s the later, then any data put out by VAERS is questionable. If a data base can’t be searched with any degree of accuracy the data base is a hopeless mess.
I don’t know how many more times this can be explained. Those people did die, but they did not die because of the vaccine. The fact that they are over 60 was mentioned because people over 60 generally die at a much higher rate than younger people. We vaccinated nursing home residents first. And nursing home residents die at a MUCH higher rate than those not in nursing homes regardless of COVID.
I can’t tell whether you truly don’t understand how VAERS works or are being frustratingly obstinate with the truth. All deaths after vaccination are reported to VAERS so that there can be followup to determine whether the vaccine caused or contributed to the death. As you state, they have found that nearly every single reported death was not due to a vaccine. So when you say “either there are 13,086 deaths directly attributable to the vaccines reported out in those 748,020 cases or the VAERS search function is so bad it should never be used for anything”, you are wrong on both accounts. There were not 13k deaths attributed to the vaccines, but there were a very, very small number. And VAERS is meant to help us find that small number. If you feel that we need to verify that vaccines are safe (which I think you do because you are consistently questioning their safety), you should be comforted by the fact that we are reviewing every single death that happens to occur after a vaccination.
See my reply to Cato.
Thank you for writing this… mainly for having the energy to write this and respond to the comments. Covid has made me crazy and I can’t deal with it anymore. I feel like burying my head in the sand. From the beginning, I was never on board with masks and lockdowns but what was especially surprising was people’s fear and totalitarianism about it. I have kept my opinions to myself because there is no way to express them without getting very negative, violent reactions from all family members and friends. Where I live in Portugal there are vaccine passports, you can get a fine for not wearing it a mask outside and there is an authentic witch hunt for “antivaxers”. I have never been against vaccines, but I also won’t get it for the exact same reasons you described. I have a secret WhatsApp group with friends who feel the same way. We feel powerless. Most people get vaxed to not lose their jobs. I am getting tired of it and tired of fighting the system, which seems to get bigger and worse each day. So thank you for writing this.
You’re welcome Julie. I am at a loss to explain how vaccine “true believers” think. They seem to be unable to understand that while their consciences absolve them of any guilt in taking a vaccine developed from a murdered baby to possibly their save their own and other lives, our consciences absolve us from any guilt of someone, including ourselves, possibly dying from a virus because we did not get a vaccine developed from a murdered baby. On the other hand when you look at what society thinks is moral today I guess it is not that hard to understand.
You are welcome!
There is some dangerous misinformation in this post. There have been a handful of deaths in the US associated with the J&J vaccine, but nowhere near the thousands implied in this article. That detail was pulled from the CDC website and was not shown in context at all.
The fact is that COVID has killed many thousands of people in this country. In December 2020, we were experiencing more than 20k COVID deaths every week in the US. This is compared to the expected number of weekly deaths of 60k. Normal death counts are very predictable, and COVID caused a massive increase. In comparison, traffic accidents cause under 40k deaths in the US per YEAR. And we spend a huge amount of resources and add a large number of driving laws and restrictions to avoid those deaths. We were experiencing more COVID deaths in two weeks than the number of automobile fatalities in an entire year. COVID was very serious even if there are a large number of people that have an easy time with it. Many people also drive automobiles and it is generally safe, but some people aren’t as lucky and we make many laws to make sure we’re keeping each other safe when operating motor vehicles.
And going back to the number of deaths being predictable, there has been no noticeable increase in deaths due to the vaccines. In actuality, the number of overall excess deaths decreased as the vaccines were rolled out.
The data is clear. Vaccines reduce the number of deaths and save lives. Choosing not to get one leads to death. Period. If might not be someone you know, but it adds to the community risks/spread and causes deaths. It’s kind of like driving drunk. You might not kill someone directly, but you also might – or you might kill someone indirectly through spreading it. The link to you killing others today and tomorrow is FAR stronger than the link to an abortion from 50 years ago (which is tragic nonetheless). As the pope said, getting vaccinated is an act of love for thy neighbor. Choosing not to get vaccinated is choosing to risk your neighbors lives needlessly. Please get vaccinated. Both for your own good and those around you. I’m glad you and your family have been lucky so far, but it has been luck. Please protect yourself and the rest of us as well. And stop spreading misinformation. There is plenty that we do not know about COVID, but there is also plenty that we do either know or have a lot of confidence in. The vaccines save lives. That is something we do know.
Everything Kyle believes is true and everything everyone else thinks, even if it is actually factual – if it’s contrary to what Kyle thinks or Kyle’s beliefs – is in error or “misinformation.” Okay, thanks for stopping by Kyle.
Almost everyone coming in to emergency rooms with Covid is unvaccinated. What does that tell you?
The CDC Covid Tracker website for 8/27/21 says “In small studies FULLY VACCINATED immunocompromised people have made up A LARGE PORTION of hospitalized “breakthrough infections” [Emphasis added]. The CDC is not tracking “those who already had Covid.”
Gene, there are facts and there are opinions. I leave my opinions on this site all the time. It is my opinion that you should get vaccinated. It is my opinion that it is uncharitable to refuse vaccination. The vicar of Christ on earth shares the opinion that getting vaccinated is an act of charity.
It is a fact that the vaccines have killed almost no one (contrary to what you implied). It is a fact that COVID has killed many thousands of people in the US alone. It is a fact that last December, COVID was killing more people in the US than a full year of automobile fatalities every two weeks. It is a fact that COVID vaccines reduce the spread of the virus as well as the chance of death for a vaccinated individual.
Feel free to make your own decisions, but don’t pretend that the facts don’t matter.
Kyle, I don’t know where you get your facts but you also tend to state your opinions as facts. I, however, make sure to include links in every article I write verifying the accuracy of what I state as a fact. So stop trying to say I am spewing misinformation. I take that as an insult and – fair warning – the next time you impugn my integrity I will just delete your comment.
The fact is that the vaccines have killed 13,086 people and another 17,228 have been permanently disabled from them. This is from a VAERS data sheet [https://www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=CAT&EVENTS=ON&VAX=COVID19].
Nothing has been taken out of context. The VAERS site also clearly states “VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events.” [https://vaers.hhs.gov/data/dataguide.html]
So no one knows how high the real numbers are. These are FACTS Kyle, whether you want to believe them or not.
The vaccines have not killed anywhere near 13,000 people. You are misreading that data, and the explanations are there if you choose to read them. Those deaths occurred after vaccination, but not because of the vaccination in almost every case.
I study mortality for a living. Deaths are normally very predictable. If something has an impact on deaths, we notice it. If there is a bad flu year, we notice it. When COVID hit, we definitely noticed it. It was far worse than a bad flu year. It caused a very material and obvious increase in the number of deaths. There was no noticeable increase in deaths when the vaccines were rolled out. In contrast, there was an obvious reduction in COVID deaths in areas where a high percentage of individuals chose to get vaccinated. There have been almost no deaths due to vaccination. Again, I say almost because there were a few people that did die almost assuredly due to receiving the J&J or Astra Zeneca vaccines.
Given the large numbers of people having received the vaccines by now, we know they are very safe. We also know that the risk of getting COVID and having a bad result far outweighs the risk of having an adverse reaction to a vaccine. We know this. There is no debate. We don’t know the exact level of risks associated with the vaccines (or COVID for that matter), but we do know for a fact that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html
And here is a Reuters piece that also states that the data you showed from VAERS does not imply causation:
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vaers-9318/fact-check-reports-of-9318-vaers-covid-19-vaccine-deaths-do-not-prove-causality-idUSL1N2P21CV
I’ve seen this movie before. Vanson posts opinions claiming they are facts, and when anyone corrects him with actual facts, he tries to mischaracterize the real facts as opinions. With a personal jab too.
Kyle is correct. Nothing more need be said.
As I have been posting to people on other forums, and yes it is blunt but it needs to be said in hopes of breaking through the mysterious stubborn resistance to facts and reason that is only prolonging the pandemic difficulties: Mr Vanson, you are wrong and you need to be told that you are wrong. Please make the effort to re-educate yourself.
Larry, if you want to attack me please at least spell my name correctly. It is Van Son, not Vanson.
You are a very brave man for stepping into this mine field! Bravo!
Church approval for abortion-tainted vaccines, I thought, required that we continue to advocate for vaccines that are NOT abortion-tainted. Yet even in “pro life” circles, people do not seem to be utilizing the resources to do so (cf, https://www.usccb.org/resources/letters-pharmaceutical-companies). On the radio the other day, I heard the president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center say that abortion-free vaccines are being used in other countries! We need to collectively advocate far more strongly to get such approved and available.
I would add that if someone opts to NOT get the vaccine, they should be forthright and NOT act as though they were vaccinated. If a mask is required for unvaccinated people and it is not contraindicated, use it!
Again, bravo 👏 to the author!
Joe, thanks for the kind words but I do have to disagree with saying that everyone not vaccinated should wear a mask. This is like saying “because there are stupid people out there that may be walking around in public with symptomatic Covid, everyone needs to wear a mask.” This is treating everyone like little children. It’s the old “trying to legislate against stupidity” gambit. The reality is that the protection from the vaccines wears off, so vaccinated people can still get it and transmit it too.
The CDC website cites only studies saying masks are effective. But there are many studies saying masks are ineffective[https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/47-studies-confirm-inefectiveness-of-masks-for-covid-and-32-more-confirm-their-negative-health-effects/] and actually have negative effects. As late as June 25, 2021 Science Magazine says: “The effectiveness of masks, however, is still under debate.”
If I don’t have Covid and I am not afraid of contracting Covid, why should I wear a mask? If I do get Covid I self-quarantine, so I’m not spreading it. And if I have it but I’m asymptomatic, I’m not transmitting it so there are no worries here either.
How do you know you don’t have it?
Why do surgeons wear masks when in the operating room? Is it because they don’t work?
C’mon, Capt., don’t be flippant. If you are symptomatic you have a fever. Surgeons also wear N95 masks which are quite different than the ordinary masks or bandannas the vast majority of people are wearing.
Gene, come on. If you don’t know that you can spread COVID while being asymptomatic, you really shouldn’t be posting about COVID. It’s irresponsible, and this is serious. People are dying because of this kind of misinformation.
Surgeons also don’t typically wear N95 masks – they wear surgical masks.
Captain is not being flippant. He is raising a good point. You can have COVID without knowing it, and you can spread it. This is why we wear the masks. It is out of love and care for others. The masks protect others far more than they protect the person wearing it.
No Kyle, I do not “that you can spread COVID while being asymptomatic.” The CDC does not know this either. But I guess you do?
But I do stand corrected, on the surgical masks point, Kyle. According to the FDA website, N95 masks can be used as surgical masks but most surgical masks are not N95 masks.
But the FDA also says “While a surgical mask may be effective in blocking splashes and large-particle droplets, a face mask, by design, does not filter or block very small particles in the air that may be transmitted by coughs, sneezes, or certain medical procedures. Surgical masks also do not provide complete protection from germs and other contaminants because of the loose fit between the surface of the mask and your face.”
[https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/personal-protective-equipment-infection-control/n95-respirators-surgical-masks-and-face-masks]
So why are surgical masks worn in operating rooms if they “do not provide complete protection from germs and other contaminants because of the loose fit between the surface of the mask and your face”? My guess would be because those in the operating room are adults who are smart enough to know that if they are sick they shouldn’t be out in public let alone in an operating room.
COVID can be spread by asymptomatic carriers, and masks reduce the risk of transmission greatly without eliminating it. And clearly, higher quality masks are more effective at preventing spread.
At this point, you are being obstinate. You are trying to find small loopholes to deny the larger truth. Like with people who support abortion by denying the personhood of the child, you are killing people by denying the reality of this virus and what we know about it. Also similar to abortion, you are denying this truth because you want to live your life and are unwilling to make any sacrifices for others. Their lives simply aren’t worth it to you. At this point, I believe you are culpable for what you are doing.
So even though the CDC is not sure asymptomatic carriers can spread the virus, you are, and yet I am the one being obstinate. We should trust how HHS interprets VAERS data but not the CDC when it says only that the virus might be spread by asymptomatic carriers. Got it.
For the purposes of our discussion, asymptomatic means at the time of transmission. Officially, many of these people transmitting the virus are technically pre-symptomatic, but the important point is that they are transmitting the virus while they have no symptoms whatsoever. And it is pretty clear that people who are never symptomatic also can transmit the virus. The CDC recognizes this which is why they say you may transmit the virus without exhibiting symptoms.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2774707
Thanks for clarifying your understanding of asymptomatic and pre symptomatic. They are different than mine and even how the WHO defines them: “Both terms refer to people who do not have symptoms. The difference is that ‘asymptomatic’ refers to people who are infected but never develop any symptoms, while ‘pre-symptomatic’ refers to infected people who have not yet developed symptoms but go on to develop symptoms later.”
Regardless, if your interpretation of the CDC guidelines is correct, why did the CDC modify its coronavirus testing guidelines in July to exclude people who do not have Covid-19 symptoms? It seems to me that if asymptomatic and/or pre-symptomatic folks are that contagious testing should be stepped up instead of being stepped down. Why wouldn’t the CDC want to know about everyone who tests positive so they can go into immediate isolation?
Kyle, let’s end this back and forth. Nothing will be gained here. The confusion will continue, which was the whole point of my article. The VAERS section is in there only to say some skepticism is not a bad thing. This is the pandemic version of the “global warming” debate.
I feel I can’t trust the authorities within and without of the church on COVID. I do my own research on morality of the vaccines, the legality of forcing vaccines, the necessity, safety and effectiveness of them and have concluded that I will never be forced to put it into my body. Very saddened by this global biological tyranny. Extremely disappointed in my church.
Dear Annette, You might like book LITTLE LADY FULL COPY by GM Lamond-avail. on Amazon. I 100% agree with your ‘global biological tyranny.’ You might also like this, by me, from 2019-who’d a thunk this might now be of interest? – “This article attempts to show that the child-vaccination decision is based on some very real probabilities, and not on absolute certainties and undeniable facts . . . Those who may say the odds of harm or death caused by child vaccination are so infinitesimal that it is not gambling are implicitly saying it is gambling..”
https://the-american-catholic.com/2019/04/07/vaccines-gambling-with-your-childs-health-life/
Guy, Texas
Very well articulated, objective and true. If all the data from this pandemic were coalesced into health factors alone, citing everything from cholesterol, glucose, obesity levels as well as the number of heavy smokers and duration, this along with America’s dramatic increase in sedentary lifestyle and fast food diet; if all were collated to separate those in the asymptomatic, mild and moderate range of infection as opposed to those listed as serious, critical and on life support, we would possibly see this as a pandemic of the unhealthy – not to include IN ANY WAY those compromised by age, or persons who are immune suppressed. And for those in the minority who make up the majority of victims the real tragedy lies in their inability to access top tier health care.
I don’t understand why you call the vaccine “abortion-tainted”. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, at least, were not developed via embryonic stem cells. My family got the Pfizer.
Just to reinforce what the captain said, this is a well written explanation
https://www.eakc.net/2020/12/31/do-pfizer-or-moderna-use-embryonic-stem-cells-or-fetal-tissue-in-vaccine-development-the-answer-is-no/
Bob Kurland recapped how the vaccines were developed in an article here at CS article last year –“Covid-19 Vaccines and Catholic Ethics.” [https://catholicstand.com/covid-19-vaccines-and-catholic-ethics/]
The Astra-Zeneca vaccine was developed and produced from HEK293 (Human Embryo Kidney 293) cells. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were tested using HEK294 cells.
These cells you reference are copies of copies of copies of copies. They are no longer the cells from the actual child. We cannot let scientific breakthroughs become a cause for abortion, but that is not happening here. We’ve made scientific discoveries in the past from bodies that were obtained inappropriately, but we don’t throw those discoveries away. We use those situations to improve our behavior and sourcing of scientific material going forward. This is a similar situation in my opinion. There should be no moral concern with how these vaccines were developed. The vatican agrees with this stance.
“There should be no moral concern with how these vaccines were developed. The vatican agrees with this stance.” This is not correct. In the first place, there is no official spokesperson for the Catholic Church that is called the Vatican. The Vatican is a place not a person. Reread the section under the subhead Catholic Confusion.”
OK, then let’s try this. The moral theologians delegated by the church to think about such matters, and if the church has delegated them, then clearly they have God-given talents that I do not have, have very clearly said that the connection to “evil” is so remote that no one should form their conscience that the vaccine must be avoided for that reason. That card is off the table. I hope I have used all the correct terms here, I’m pretty sure I have.
Larry, there are many Catholic theologians and there is disagreement amongst them over the vaccines’ connection to evil.
If you are referring to the CDF, it is made up of cardinals, bishops, priests, and laypeople who are theologians, as well as canon lawyers. It has stated that it is both moral to take the vaccines AND moral to not take the vaccines.
Dr. Joseph Meany, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, summed up the situation pretty well in a 12/23/2020 article at Catholic Answers.
“According to the CDF, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), with the current COVID vaccines Catholics are faced with a problem of remote, passive, material cooperation with abortion.
“Today, regarding COVID vaccines, people want a clear yes or no answer on the permissibility of taking ethically tainted vaccines when no good alternatives are available. The difficult but faithfully Catholic answer is, “It depends on your conscientious discernment.”
Kyle tried to say in his comments that the vaccines were developed from cells made from cells made from cells of a single aborted baby (HK293). But the designation 293 means that there were 292 failed attempts to isolate kidney cells from 292 previously aborted babies. So, even though “They are no longer the cells from the actual child” almost 300 murdered babies contributed to this ‘great’ breakthrough. This is the fuller extent of the remote, passive, material cooperation with abortion.
Well you better get your mask on Gene. You do have a moral obligation to do your utmost to avoid being agent of transmission if you refuse the vaccine. Time to mask up!
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html
5. At the same time, practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary. In any case, from the ethical point of view, the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one’s own health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good. In the absence of other means to stop or even prevent the epidemic, the common good may recommend vaccination, especially to protect the weakest and most exposed. Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent. In particular, they must avoid any risk to the health of those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons, and who are the most vulnerable.
Our diocese has republished this article from the Catholic News Service:
https://www.catholicsun.org/2021/08/27/vaccine-mandates-open-door-for-bishops-to-discern-an-appropriate-action/
which you may read at your leisure but the guidance is clear:
The Vatican’s doctrinal office said … “It must therefore be considered that in such a case all vaccinations recognized as clinically safe and effective can be used in good conscience with the certain knowledge that the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells used in production of the vaccines derive,” the statement said.
The doctrinal office also said those who refuse for reasons of conscience “must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent” to those who are the most vulnerable.