Why it might be our Christian Duty to get Vaccinated...

[kelglitter]

A few weeks ago I made the decision to start taking communion via intinction. This is dipping the host into the wine and consuming them together instead of drinking from the common cup (which does contain pretty potent wine, and which is also wiped off by the adminstrants between recipients). My rationalization for this was as follows:

1. There are

Comments

rate

[seraphimsigrist]

what is not clear to me is that the mortality
rate is greater than for a typical annual influenza?
it seems given the swine flu plus the other strains
it can be a more intense season than average but I
am not sure the rate of mortality is especially high?
(age distribution etc varies etc but?)

Re: rate

[kelglitter]

Well, I'm not actually trying to make a case specifically for H1N1 vaccination - I'm attempting to make a case for all flu vaccinations, and while everyone is talking about it this flu season, the argument applies for every flu season. That said, you can read a somewhat alarming article by an epidemiologist talking about H1N1 at http://bit.ly/8NQJt - my Uncle Don pointed me to that, and it is part of what sparked my concerns about whether we as Christians can afford to continue the status quo rather than taking an active role in protecting society from sickness

[calenorn]

I always receive via intinction for that very reason; I don't want to give someone else MY germs! Using the common cup can be a very powerful experience but I prefer to limit it to smaller gatherings (and rarely get the chance, alas!)

As for a vaccination, I'm not sure there will be enough to cover the high risk groups, let alone average folks like me. If it is available I guess I would get it, but my kids would get one first!

[kelglitter]

I have heard that in some communities there is plenty of vaccine available because those in high risk groups are not making it a priority. If I were in such a community I would probably go ahead and get it. That said, I'm not, so I just have to wait.

[vip1]

While I've always been pro-vaccination, I'm not sure your logic is 100% agreeable to me. I mean, people know they are going to be exposed to germs when they venture out in public (or, heck, in their own houses too, but at least they are familiar with those germs) The benefits of going out far outweigh the risk. As for Christians setting an example, what happened to God as a healer and faith? I mean, isn't relying on a vaccine every year rather than trusting that God will not use our bodies to contaminate others, potentially leading to death (in the most grim, yet very unlikely example) a complete lack of faith? The Christian community around here seems very anti-vaccines of ALL sorts, which I absolutely hate, because letting your kid get polio or, worse, start an outbreak of it, because you didn't want to see him cry for 5 seconds seems like a dumb thing to do! But, at the same time, getting vaccinated out of fear of exposing our neighbors seems just as over-the-top on the other side of the spectrum

[kelglitter]

Hmm... you're a medical professional, so my thought here is that maybe women who can't afford to get pregnant (for one reason or another) should rely on God to protect them instead of using a condom with their husbands every time? I know you would totally disagree with that, so maybe you should think harder about the validity of relying on God to do something when he has equipped us with brains that have invented things (like vaccines and condoms) to do stuff for us

[vip1]

I want to read that article, but haven't had a chance yet. Hopefully this afternoon. Anyway, I thought that the point isn't whether or not you get sick, but whether or not you are passing it onto others without realizing it. I am not in any way advocating being irresponsible and going out when sick without regard for whether you infect others! However, one major point that I am unclear on is whether you can still be a "carrier" with an "incubation period" even if vaccinated. I always thought that you could still spread the disease even if vaccinated, it just wasn't for as long a period (i.e. 1 day rather than 5 or something like that) I am positive that even if vaccinated you can still touch a surface that is contaminated and spread the virus to the next surface you touch, even if you don't make any other contacts with the virus. So, I definitely agree that as Christians, we should ALWAYS make a habit of being generally healthy given that our bodies are to be temples, etc. And I can definitely agree that during flu season,

Continued for length issues.....

[vip1]

Maybe you disagree. But, when I was in 7th grade, I was going through a phase where I was trying to ignore God because I was only following in my parents' footsteps and I wanted to break away enough to see if that was what I really wanted for my own life. During this time, I had a horseback riding accident and broke my arm. While in the hospital, the hospital's pastor came in and asked if he could pray for me. I didn't really want him to, but didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I let him. The whole time he was praying, I was basically ignoring him and "yadda yadda yaddaing" in my head. Somehow, though, during the course of my arm healing, so did my spirit. I don't even know what happened, when, or how. I just know that when my arm was broken, I didn't care about God in the least, but by the time my arm was healed, I loved God more than anything else and was in some of the best communion with Him that I have ever experienced, even to this day! He really became my best friend and all I wanted to do was pray 24/7! I wish I