Orthodox doctors have disowned anti-vaccinators
The response of Orthodox doctors to opponents of vaccination
Russian BulletinTo the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Russian Bulletin"
A.A.Senin
Dear Alexey Alekseevich!
In issue 23 of the newspaper "Russian Bulletin" for 2009, the material A.Kotoka, directed against vaccination in Russia. At the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia on November 23 this year, the publication was discussed and a corresponding statement was adopted. I ask you to place it on the pages of the "Russian Bulletin".
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia,
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor
A.V. UNAVAILABLE
Statement of the Executive Committee of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of RussiaIn No. 23 of 2009 of the newspaper "Russkiy Vestnik", the publication "Ten reasons to say no to vaccinations" was published by the homeopathic doctor Alexander Kotok, a well-known opponent of vaccination, organizer of the largest anti-vaccination site in the Russian-speaking part of the Internet, where, in addition to publications directed against vaccinations, correspondence consultations of patients with the appointment are actively conducted treatment.
The Executive Committee of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia declares that the information contained in this publication is largely untrue and generally pseudoscientific in nature.
The position of the Society of Orthodox Doctors is reflected in the final document of the round table on the topic: "Vaccination in children: problems and ways to solve them", held on September 23, 2008 in the Department of Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church. You can get acquainted with the document on the official website of the company.
The problem was also considered by the Church-Public Council on Biomedical Ethics under the Moscow Patriarchate; the materials of the discussion and the statement of the Council are placed in the collection "Orthodoxy and Problems of Bioethics", issue 3, 2009.
The problem of the widespread dissemination in the Orthodox environment of pseudoscientific information concerning vaccination was discussed during the II All-Russian Congress of Orthodox Doctors, held in October 2009 in Voronezh, which was reflected in the resolution of the congress.
Considering the provisions set out in the publication, we consider it necessary to provide readers with the following information:
1. To the question that "vaccines are poisons by definition," one should recall the words of the great physician Paracelsus: "Everything is poison, and nothing is devoid of venom; only one dose makes the poison invisible." Indeed, vaccine preparations contain toxic substances. However, both the conducted studies and long-term practice indicate that the minuscule concentrations of these substances contained in vaccines do not have an adverse effect on the human body. Nevertheless, pharmaceutical science is constantly working to improve the safety of vaccines, as a result of which there are no toxic substances in many modern vaccines.
2. The statement "many vaccines are prepared on the basis of animal cell structures and contain their viruses" is supported by a single fact more than 50 years ago. Currently, the vaccine manufacturing technology practically eliminates the ingress of foreign microorganisms into the drug.
3. The argument "coercion, intimidation, harassment, concealment of "individual facts", lies and direct falsification of statistics invariably accompany vaccinations throughout their two-hundred-year history" is unfounded. I would like to remind you that for more than 11 years, vaccination in the Russian Federation has been voluntary. At the same time, the Executive Committee of the OPVR recognizes the existence of violations in the field of immunoprophylaxis and calls for strict compliance with the rules of vaccination.
4. The thesis that "the production of vaccines is the most profitable pharmaceutical business" does not cause fundamental objections, but also cannot serve as an argument against vaccinations. It should be recalled that the practice of mass vaccination was widely used in the Soviet Union in those years when there was unconditional state regulation of the economy and there was virtually no financial benefit from the production of vaccine preparations.
5. The statement that "there is no evidence that it was vaccinations that helped humanity to win the fight against some dangerous infectious diseases" is not true. Global population studies in various countries of the world obviously confirm that the introduction of vaccine prophylaxis led to a sharp decrease in the number of many diseases. At least, the doctor's statement looks strange that factors such as the destruction of infected livestock, chlorination of water and quality control of agricultural products played a role in the fight against airborne anthroponotic infections (whooping cough, measles, diphtheria).
6. The statement that "vaccinations are the cause of deaths and lifelong injuries of thousands of children around the world every year" has no substantiated evidence. At the same time, world statistics show that every year more than 3 million people in the world die from infections that could be prevented by vaccination.
7. The thesis that "Recently there are more and more scientific publications showing the connection of vaccinations with diseases such as autism, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, leukemia" distorts the real picture. Indeed, there have been a number of publications in the scientific literature about the possible relationship of a number of serious diseases with vaccinations. However, scientific research in recent years has just refuted or questioned the connection of these diseases with vaccination.
8. The statement that "vaccinations reflect only an allopathic approach to understanding infectious diseases and their prevention, which is by no means the only possible one," cannot be considered as a reason for refusing to carry out vaccination. The approach, which the author calls "allopathic", is generally recognized and has a serious scientific justification.
9. Considering the statement that "the policy of mass vaccinations completely ignores the individual characteristics of heredity, susceptibility to various diseases, the state of immunity, psycho-emotional status and other vaccinated," first of all, I would like to note that mass vaccinations are primarily aimed at preventing epidemics of infectious diseases that pose a serious threat to public health. It should also be said that in people with impaired immunity, these vaccine-controlled infections are more severe and pose a serious threat to their lives.
10. Statement "if vaccinations cause death or injury, the medical authorities will certainly make every effort to prove that the vaccinations had nothing to do with what happened. Examples when (especially in Russia, but other countries are by no means an exception) parents who were orphaned or with a disabled child in their arms were left without any monetary compensation promised to them by law are numerous," is unfounded and has a slogan character. At the same time, the Executive Committee of the OPVR stands for a thorough investigation of deaths in the post-vaccination period and adequate social support in cases of post-vaccination complications.
I would also like to draw readers' attention to the fact that the author, calling the official medical statistics false and falsified, nevertheless builds on their basis a number of positions of his theses.
In conclusion, it should be emphasized once again that the OPVR considers vaccination as one of the most important means of preventing infectious diseases. More information about our position can be found on the OPVR website.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru04.12.2009