Month: December 2021

The Church and the Covid Crisis and the Illusion of the Common Good

Monsignor Charles Pope recently wrote what has to be considered the ultimately reasonable approach for Catholics to take in deciding what to do about COVID-19 and the vaccines. After reviewing the bidding – from the mandates, to the principles involved in determination of the morality of the vaccines themselves, to considerations of the common good and the rights of individuals, the monsignor asserts that what must be done in a situation like this is precisely what the bishops have done:

“The Church’s bishops have chosen to balance the common good of public health with the rights of individual conscience.” [1]

Dr. Edward Feser takes a similar approach, laying out quite thoroughly the principles involved in evaluating the legitimacy of vaccine mandates, concluding that:

“ . . . if a citizen has well-founded reasons for thinking the the conditions on a just vaccination mandate are not met, he thereby has grounds for resisting it.”

And,

“The bottom line is that whether to get a Covid-19 vaccine is, in the nature of the case, a prudential matter.” [2]

These conclusions appear to be eminently reasonable. After all, who can argue against the common good or the rights of individuals to make their own prudential judgments?

The problem here is that both arguments incorporate the implicit assumption that in this crisis the truth cannot be definitively known: and therefore everything becomes a matter of competing opinions or judgments and how to justly balance them. But that implicit assumption does not reflect the facts of the COVID-19 crisis: there are actually certain indisputable realities about the vaccines, which anyone can understand, and which obliterate any common good arguments.

The first and most important of these realities is the simple fact that there has not been enough time to conduct long term testing for these novel, never-before-approved, “vaccines.” The risks associated with these vaccines are unknown – and therefore, a valid risk calculation weighing the benefits against the risks of the vaccines cannot be made. And that in turn makes it impossible to assess the common good which might be attributed to the vaccines. The real issue in this pandemic is not whether governments act justly by forcing indviduals to take the vaccines: the real issue is the truth about the vaccines.

As it turns out now, after a year of vaccine deployment, there are mounting indications that on several fronts governments have not been forthcoming with the truth. It is apparent now, for example, that these vaccines can induce severe adverse impacts, to a degree far exceeding those of any vaccines employed previously. [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] Having failed to conduct adequate long term testing in order to fully understand how these new vaccines operate in the human body, the government-medical establishment must now admit that the vaccines have been revealed to be “leaky”: they do not prevent COVID-19 infection [12], they do not prevent COVID-19 transmission, [13] and there are studies showing that they actually drive the proliferation of new COVID-19 variants. [14] Moreover, countries with high vaccination rates are actually experiencing COVID-19 surges. [15] Governments are now attempting to promote an absurd tail chase, advocating ever more vaccine “boosters” to counter the ever-increasing variants resulting from these leaky vaccines. [16]

There are now billions [17] of people worldwide who are infected with the spike protein generated by these vaccines and who are potentially subject to disastrous long term medical consequences. By failing to question the radical departure from prior established vaccine authorization procedures,there is a very real possibility that the Church has actually participated in a massive destruction of the common good, by meekly capitulating as governments instituted mandates and lockdowns which still today have not halted the pandemic. While it is not the Church’s role to usurp the prudential decisions of secular governments, the Church certainly should have aggressively pursued the truth, exercising its moral authority, and vigorously demanding accountability and full explanations for the obvious departures from proven medical standards. As recognized by the inventor of the mRNA vaccines himself,

“. . . in the western world, if there is a remaining moral authority in the world, it is the Catholic Church as the dominant moral authority.” [18]

But the Church has abdicated that role in this pandemic. Instead, and unbelievably, the Pope has waved the flag of globalism in order to more effectively enforce public acceptance of the vaccines. [19] The Christian flock is left adrift and unprotected by its shepherds.

Beyond the issue of failure to conduct long term testing, there are also other indisputable realities involved in this sorry pandemic response spectacle. These anomalous characteristics of the government-medical establishment approach to COVID-19 should be ferociously questioned:

These vaccines are unlike any others ever previously used. Vaccines employing messenger RNA technology to stimulate the human body to generate a target antigen were never approved for any disease prior to this pandemic. All previous attempts to create a successful coronavirus vaccine have failed. [20] Given these fundamental vaccine innovations, and the prior failures, these vaccines should actually have been required to undergo more extensive rather than less extensive testing than was previously required.

Early on in the pandemic, the U. S. government changed the rules for assigning cause of death in cases involving COVID-19, in such a way as to arbitrarily and falsely increase the COVID-19 fatality rate. [21, 22] This further impedes the ability to calculate any sort of rational risk assessment. Therefore, even the basic data used to determine the severity of the pandemic is itself adulterated, and unuseable. Not only is long term test data lacking, but even the available short term data is unreliable.

The U. S. government also recently tinkered with the fundamental definition of a vaccine, in order to allow the spike protein vaccines to fit the definition of a vaccine. Whereas before this pandemic a vaccine was defined to actually produce immunity to a specific disease, these vaccines are now defined to produce protection from a specific disease. [23] This is a classic scientific error of the worst sort: having failed to meet an objective standard, and instead of acknowledging failure and continuing to search for other means to meet the standard, the old standard is downgraded so that the previous, valid standard does not have to be met, and the new less rigorous standard can now justify “success.” This is deceptive in the extreme. It is unacceptable. It should not go unchallenged.

The government-medical establishment has opposed treating COVID-19 with repurposed drugs such as Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine. [24] The FDA website actively discourages use of Ivermectin. [25] This despite significant evidence from multiple countries of Ivermectin’s efficacy against COVID-19, [26, 27, 28] as well as substantial evidence from clinical trials for the efficacy of both Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. [29, 30] The CDC guidance for treatment of COVID-19 mentions nothing about seeking early or prophylactic treatment for COVID-19, emphasizing instead that sick people should stay home unless they develop symptoms warranting emergency medical care. [31] Anyone viewing the CDC guidance would have no idea that there are many common-sense treatments which could be provided by personal physicians to mitigate the effects of the disease, including bolstering the immune system, employing drugs which have anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties, and assisting the body in fighting respiratory effects. Numerous protocols designed to mitigate the effects of the disease have been generated by concerned doctors, such as those developed by Dr. Peter McCullough and the doctors of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care (FLCCC) Alliance. [32, 33, 34] It is beyond comprehension that the government-medical establishment has blatantly ignored such protocols and adopted a do-nothing approach except for the application of inadequately tested vaccines.

Credible societal authorities, including the Church, should be extremely concerned with the multiple fundamental governmental failures operating in this pandemic. It is time for the Church to abandon the easily adopted common good arguments which are based on the false assumption that the vaccines are safe and effective. And there is absolutely no reason for the head of the Church here on earth to trumpet globalism as the solution for the pandemic. The Church should be fighting for the truth instead of acting as just one more voice for the progressive globalist agenda.

References

  1. Pope, Charles. “Conscience, COVID Vaccines and the Common Good.” National Catholic Register. September 24, 2021.
    https://www.ncregister.com/blog/conscience-covid-vaccines-and-the-common-good
  2. Feser, Edward. “Covid-19 vaccination should not be mandatory.” Catholic World Report. October 21, 2021. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/10/21/covid-19-vaccination-should-not-be-mandatory/
  3. Malone, Robert. “Toxic spike proteins made by COVID jabs ‘often cause permanent damage’ in kids: mRNA inventor.” LifeSite News. December 14, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/toxic-spike-proteins-made-by-covid-jabs-often-cause-permanent-damage-in-kids-mrna-inventor/
  4. Delaney, Patrick. “Doctor who pioneered COVID HCQ protocol urges ‘resistance against governmental tyranny’.” LifeSite News. December 8, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/doctor-who-pioneered-covid-hcq-protocol-implores-society-to-resistance-against-governmental-tyranny/
  5. “Ignore the Latest Nonsense About ‘Variants.’ Stay Focused on Dangers of COVID Shots.” Children’s Health Defense. December 1, 2021. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cdc-covid-variant-vaccines-young-people/
  6. Sadler, Ashley. “FDA documents show over 150K serious adverse events in first 3 months of Pfizer jab approval.” LifeSite News. December 3, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/fda-releases-documents-showing-over-150000-serious-adverse-events-in-first-3-months-of-pfizer-jab-authorization/
  7. Delaney, Patrick. “Renowned virologist warns of ‘collapse of our health system’ due to complications from COVID vaccines.” LifeSite News. December 3. 2021. https://lifesitenews.com/news/renowned-virologist-warns-of-collapse-of-our-health-system-due-to-complications-from-covid-vaccines/
  8. Conradson, Julian. “Leading Cardiologis Says Researchers Are Refusing to Publish Results Showing Link To Massive Increase In Heart Attacks.” The Gateway Pundit. November 30, 2021. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/ready-must-watch-leading-cardiologist-says-researchers-refusing-publish-supporting-study-results-show-covid-vaccines-link-massive-increase-heart-attacks-afraid/
  9. Delaney, Patrick. “Spike protein in COVID virus and shots weakens immune system, may be linked with cancer : Swedish study. LifeSite News. December 3, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/751409/
  10. Wolfe, Raymond. “Vaccines pose 7 times higher death risk than COVID for young people, Japanese experts warn.” LifeSite News. December 11, 2021. https://lifesitenews.com/news/vaccines-pose-7-times-higher-death-risk-than-covid-for-young-people-japanese-experts-warn/
  11. Kohlmayer, Vasko. “VAERS Data Indicates the Covid Vaccines Have Killed At Least 140,000 Americans.” American Thinker. December 9, 2021. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/12/vaers_data_indicates_the_covid_vaccines_have_killed_at_least_140000_americans.html
  12. Hounsell, Scott. “CDC Data, Global Sources Show Majority of Omicron Variant Cases Are Among Fully-Vaccinated.” RedState. December 13, 2021. https://redstate.com/scotthounsell/2021/12/13/cdc-data-global-sources-show-majority-of-omicron-variant-cases-are-among-fully-vaccinated-n490806
  13. Alexander, Paul and Vanden Bossche, Geert. “Fully vaccinated are a major source of COVID virus transmission: virologist, former HHS advisor. LifeSite News. December 7, 2021. https://lifesitenews.com/opinion/fully-vaccinated-are-a-major-source-of-covid-virus-transmission-virologist-former-hhs-advisor/
  14. Redshaw, Megan. “Vaccinated people may play key role in aiding evolution of more dangerous COVID variants, study says.” Children’s Health Defense. August 2, 2021. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/vaccinated-people-key-role-evolution-dangerous-covid-variants/
  15. Kohlmayer, Vasko. “Hard Data Shows the Covid Vaccines Do not Work.” American Thinker. November 29, 2021. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/11/hard_data_shows_the_covid_vaccines_dont_work.html
  16. Wolfe, Raymond. “Fauci admits COVID vaccine efficacy is failing, as FDA, CDC approve boosters.” LifeSite News. November 19, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/fauci-admits-failing-covid-vaccine-efficacy-as-fda-cdc-approve-boosters/
  17. “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations.” Our World in Data: Statistics and Research. Accessed December 21, 2021. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
  18. Hickson, Maike. “mRNA inventor stands with Abp. Viganò’s call for alliance against ‘fundamentally evil’ COVID tyranny.” LifeSite News. December 3, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/global-totalitarianism-is-a-bigger-threat-than-the-virus-mrna-pioneer-on-rise-of-covid-tyranny/
  19. Haynes, Michael. “Pope Francis tells global governance conference there can be no return to normality after COVID.” LifeSite News. November 18, 2021. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/no-return-to-normality-pope-francis-tells-pro-abortion-global-governance-conference/
  20. Gold, Simone, et. al. “America’s Frontline Doctors White Paper On Experimental Vaccines For COVID-19.” Pages 13, 14. America’s Frontline Doctors. June 1, 2021. https://americasfrontlinedoctors.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/6076e4fd8bde421370729e47_Vaccine-PP.pdf
  21. “Vital Statistics Reporting Guidance: Guidance for Certifying Deaths Due to Coronavirus Desease 2019 (COVID-19).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Center for Health Statistics: National Vital Statistics System. April, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf
  22. Hunt, Tam. “How many deaths counted as Covid-19 deaths are actually from the virus?” Tam Hunt. August 12, 2020. https://tamhunt.medium.com/data-quality-issues-and-the-coronavirus-pandemic-db0356373fc2
  23. Attkisson, Sharyl. “CDC changes definition of vaccines to fit Covid-19 vaccine limitations.” Sharyl Attkisson. September 8, 2021. https://sharylattkisson.com/2021/09/read-cdc-changes-definition-of-vaccines-to-fit-covid-19-vaccine-limitations/
  24. Hemingway, Mollie. “YouTube Bans Sen. Ron Johnson For Discussing Treatment Of COVID-19.” The Federalist. June 11, 2021. https://thefederalist.com/2021/06/11/youtube-bans-sen-ron-johnson-for-discussing-early-treatment-of-covid-19/#.YMNZXXXhWng.twitter
  25. “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.” FDA.gov:Consumer Updates. Accessed December 21, 2021. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/why-you-should-not-use-ivermectin-treat-or-prevent-covid-19
  26. Richman, Howard. “Head of Tokyo Medical Association recommends ivermectin for COVID treatment.” American Thinker. September 12, 2021. https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/09/head_of_tokyo_medical_association_recommends_ivermectin_for_covid_treatment.html
  27. Horowitz, Daniel. “The unmistakable ivermectin miracle in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.” Blaze Media. August 24, 2021. https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-the-unmistakable-ivermectin-miracle-in-the-indian-state-of-uttar-pradesh
  28. “COVID-19 Projections.” Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation: COVID-19 Resources. Accessed December 19, 2021. https://covid19.healthdata.org/india/uttar-pradesh?view=resource-use&tab=trend&resource=all_resources
  29. “Ivermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Trial Sequential Analysis to Inform Clinical Guidelines.” American Journal of Therapeutics. 21 June 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8248252/
  30. “HCQ for COVID-19: real-time meta analysis of 302 studies.” Covid Analysis. December 14, 2021.
    https://hcqmeta.com/
  31. “What to Do If You Are Sick.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: COVID-19. Accessed December 21, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-sick.html
  32. McCullough, Peter, et al. “Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection.” American Journal of Medicine. January 1, 2021. https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(20)30673-2/fulltext
  33. “MATH+ Hospital Treatment Protocol for COVID-19.” Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance: Prevention and Treatment Protocols for COVID-19. Updated June 30, 2021. https://covid19criticalcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/FLCCC-Alliance-MATHplus-Protocol-ENGLISH.pdf
  34. “IMASK+ PREVENTION & EARLY OUTPATIENT TREATMENT PROTOCOL FOR COVID-19. Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance: Prevention and Treatment Protocols for COVID-19. Updated June 30, 2020. https://covid19criticalcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FLCCC-Alliance-I-MASKplus-Protocol-ENGLISH.pdf