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by PBMom from The Woodlands

Last Post 1 day, 17 hours Ago


New Shingles Vaccine
Jul 8, 2008 | 3:40 PM
Category: News
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The FDA recently approved the first vaccine for adult shingles.  It is intended for use in adults ages 60 and older and studies have shown that it can prevent shingles roughly half the time.  Hmm... Only a 50% effective rate.  The company originally sought to market it to adults 50 and older, but the FDA restricted it.  Dr. David Markovitz said that doctors may be tempted to offer off-label vaccinations to adults age 50-59 but stressed that the vaccine remains unstudied in such patients and that researchers still don't know how long immunity lasts after vaccination.  The vaccine was only tested on whites, according to Dr. David Markovitz, and that African Americans, Hispanics or Asians may have varying immune responses that have not yet be determined. 

Does this bother anyone else?  Merck doesn't know how long the immunity will last, so they could be setting the public up to require multiple boosters, which will result in multiple billions of dollars in revenues for themselves.  This is the same thing that happened with the varicella vaccine (chicken pox vaccine).  They said one shot.  Now we find out that one shot doesn't necessarily work, that boosters are now required and some kids still get chicken pox. 

Chicken pox has always been an uncomfortable disease but it is no smallpox.  But follow the trail down the rabbit hole with me.

Merck made the varicella vaccine.  Because children are not getting the disease anymore, adults exposed to children with chicken pox aren't getting a natural booster shot by caring for these children.  By being around the chicken pox, our own immune system was creating a natural booster shot which lessened the number of elderly patients getting shingles.  So by trying to eradicate one virus, they've now created a bigger problem -- more elderly people are getting shingles.  How convenient for them.   Basically the shingles vaccine is a vaccine to treat the delayed side effect of the childhood varicella vaccine.

So what is this going to do?  Is this going to reduce people's immunity to other things, too?  Varicella and shingles are part of the Herpesvirus group, the same group of viruses for which you get cold sores, herpes simplex, etc. 

Wouldn't the logical solution be to STOP giving our children the varicella vaccine and allow them to get it naturally?  Deaths from chicken pox are not actually from the virus themselves but the overly aggressive medical care that is given in treating the symptoms--antibiotics, analgesics, steroids. 

This new vaccine, Zostavax, contains live varicella virus, so anyone receiving one needs to be aware that they will put others at risk who are not vaccinated.  What this will do is cause doctors to recommend everyone be vaccinated, and again, they are only saying half of the people who get the injection will actually be covered. 

There are better ways to fight the possibility of getting shingles.  In the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, a 2007 study found that the practice of tai-chi was able to prevent the incidence of shingles among older folks. 

Shingles is a horrible disease, but Merck has now created a public health situation as a result of their chicken pox vaccine.  They are responsible for the higher rate of shingles now.  And you say you trust these drug companies and their vaccine agenda?  We'll just see what happens once all these people start getting vaccines for the shingles what new increases in illnesses will occur that Merck will give you yet another "cure" for. 

People don't think vaccines is a money-making business, but consider that you cannot sue a pharmaceutical company for harm done by a vaccine, unless you file in Vaccine Court where your death or serious illness as a result of corporate greed is maxed out at $250,000, if you even prove your case.  The HPV vaccine is not even covered in Vaccine Court so if you get that one and die or become severely neurologically impaired, the maker, Merck, already has your money and is now shielded from prosecution anywhere in the United States. 

That is scary stuff, people.  I'll let you know in another blog what "fillers" this vaccine also contains. 

So how would you vote:  Let kids get the chicken pox again so we can restore Mother Nature's natural immunity in the circle of life or continue to let Merck inject us to death.

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Member Comments Total Comments: 8
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kagua2 read my blog
Jul 9, 2008 | 8:39 AM

Both of my kids had chicken pox AFTER receiving the vaccine. It's just like some of the meds I'm on; going off of them would be uncomfortable and I know it. Am I willing to go through that discomfort? No. So, I continue to take them.
redtractortom read my blog
Jul 9, 2008 | 9:19 AM

PBMom I had a case of shingles a couple of months earlier and they are definitely very painful. On your comment involving the vaccine, I asked my dermatoligist about it and he said I would have needed to get it within 72 hours of the onset of the breakout. It takes longer than that to get in to see him so how would it help anyway? My primary physician told me he would give me the vaccine if I wanted but the chances of getting the disease again are so slim it's not worth the risk caused by the vaccine!
Wonderful-World read my blog view my photos
Jul 9, 2008 | 5:03 PM

Shingles are extremely painful. If they can be prevented by a specific vaccine, or by the chicken pox vaccine, that's great. I don't belive that it should be a natural course of "mother nature" to decide who gets shingles (via chicken pox) and who doesn't.
PBMom read my blog view my photos
Jul 9, 2008 | 6:54 PM

WW: I don't think you understand. When kids got the chicken pox there were less adults getting shingles. Now that Merck is giving the chicken pox vaccine and heavily lobbied to get it on the list of mandatory vaccines, the natural immunity booster that adults would get being around kids with chicken pox is gone, so now they have come up with yet another vaccine to solve the problem they created by their first vaccine. And the vaccine is only a 50/50 shot for white people. It makes more sense to let the kids get chicken pox again so adults will get less shingles versus letting Merck manipulate our bodies. Who knows what this vaccine will do if people get it. What other conditions will it set up that makes the cure worse than the disease like their HPV vaccine?
PBMom read my blog view my photos
Jul 9, 2008 | 7:01 PM

Kagua: Patrick got the chicken pox naturally which I was so happy about. My sister got the varicella vaccine for her daughters and the one daughter has had chicken pox twice now and my sister actually contracted shingles during the second chicken pox outbreak my one niece had. They've even had boosters. This vaccine hurt her immune system by actually reducing its ability to fight off viruses and infections. She seems to be sick quite a bit. Patrick, despite his disabilities, is quite the healthy child. Although he has an occasional cold, there was one year we went a whole year without seeing a pediatrician and they couldn't believe it. Well, he eats a lot of organic, I haven't gotten him re-vaccinated since he was a baby, and he doesn't eat a lot of foods with high-fructose corn syrup in them, and doesn't eat a lot of genetically modified food. He hasn't even had one cavity despite the fact that he doesn't let me brush his teeth real well, either. You've seen him. He is the perfect height/weight, too.
kagua2 read my blog
Jul 10, 2008 | 11:24 AM

Patrick looks very healthy. I really would like to get to know him better. I have always had an affinity for, I don't know, I guess you could say the challenged. When we get together, I'll tell you about Angie, a Downs patient I had.
Sassy11 read my blog
Jul 10, 2008 | 7:27 PM

PBMom,
This is a fascinating subject. I've known many (50 or more) people who are older adults that have shingles. 90% of them had chicken pox when they were children. A lot of older people are developing shingles. My best friend's Grandmother suffers tremendously with shingles. One of my bosses had it so bad when he got extremely nervous. Another friend develops shingles when she is under stress. So this is a fascinating subject. At some point, many of us will develop shingles.
PBMom read my blog view my photos
Jul 10, 2008 | 9:36 PM

Sassy: That is a lot of people. While one can make an argument for a vaccine for something like smallpox, chickenpox was never a big bad disease that needed to be conquered. And then with Merck's political lobby, they convinced states to mandate the vaccine (although many states you can get an exemption for religion or conscience). I say we lobby our politicians to allow this vaccine to be a choice for parents, and I hope that most parents choose not to get it, going back to the old way of people contracting it and getting the natural immunity to it so that our older population doesn't have to suffer. In the back of my mind, I have the movie "I Am Legend" playing. They try to cure one thing and then create a whole new set of issues, which they then try to create, which then present a whole new set of issues, meanwhile people suffer because of their desire for profit, no one challenges their Holy annointed authority, and pretty soon, we'll need a vaccine to breathe air every day.
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PBMom

Mother of a 12-year-old child with autism, mild hypotonic CP, dyspraxia, MR and a seizure disorder. Married for 15 years. Have worked full-time as a telecommuter for the last 19 years. I've been the special needs minister at our church, but time demands haven't allowed me to go back. Published before in "Catholic Digest", and different poems in several books of poetry. I love 24, American Idol, Lost, Jericho and Sci-Fi (Stargate Atlantis, SG-1, Farscape, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica). My husband and I are huge movie buffs. I love to swim. I love golden retrievers. They are awesome dogs. I used to sing/take formal vocal lessons and had a formal vocal recital at Hamman Hall at Rice University in the mid 1980's. Although my friends have encouraged me that I need to write about my life story, I've made several attempts and it isn't going too well. I love blogging. It's my new creative outlet. I am a member of Texas School Watch, an advocacy group bent on exposing misuse of your tax dollars within school districts. Join the fight at: http://texasschoolwatch10
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wfchannel/ I am also going to be part of a womens' panel on Fox 26 called Your Family Matters that will air during the 5:00-5:30 segment, not every week, but as the subject matter applies to me.

Member Since: 4/16/2007


 

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