Vaccines and sex

As a christian I've frequently considered the difference between irony (what a non-biblical worldview offers) and paradox (a seeming contradiction that is resolved when an essential but not always obvious piece of information is apprehended). 

The culture in which I live (in the USA) has reached a level of degredation that virtually any perversion, especially sexual perversion, is lauded as a "right" and anyone who advocates the limits of natural law (like christians with a biblical worldview) is shamed and ridiculed (and their business is shut down or they are fired). 

So on the basis of personal autonomy a person can do anything sexually - we have total freedom to use our bodies in nearly any way sexually regardless of the damage this does to us personally or collectively as we have rampant epidemics of sexual disease. 

But the irony is that we are informed by those who are pro-vaccine that we are to abdicate our personal autonomy and bodily integrity by receiving any and every vaccine the overlords determine is necessary "for the greater good" regardless of efficacy (or lack thereof) and regardless of risk (given questionable benefit). There is very little reason to believe the un-vaccinated are spreading disease - and indeed, it may well be the recently vaccinated who are shedding (and could thus spread) disease (pertussis - a killed bacterial vaccine is a model of this, but this is especially true of live viral vaccines like rotavirus, measles, and chickenpox, among others). 

Spread disease with impunity by having sex - no problem. At least you must consent to sex, and if your consent is violated, the perpetrator of the rape/assault is arrested. Informed consent for vaccines is sketchy at best, and the "consent" such as it is, could hardly be considered genuine when receipt of vaccines is linked with participation in school and/or work - this is a rather heavy-handed coercion and manipulation thereby obliterating one of the primary and important elements of consent in that it must be freely given. 

Another irony is the desperate search for more and more vaccines, especially those that target infections that are spread through sex. Currently we have Hepatitis B and HPV vaccines. I know there has been at least one clinical trial for a Herpes vaccine. Gonorrhea and Chlamydia are two of the most common STDs - I would not be surprised if there are vaccines being developed to target these as well. 

It makes no sense whatsoever to be vaccinating newborns for Hepatitis B - especially when their mother has been tested during pregnancy and does not have the virus. Even if mom is Hep B positive it should be up to the parents if their child gets the vaccine as receipt of the vaccine and/or Hep B Immune Globulin is not guaranteed protection for the child.  Giving a newborn Hep B vaccine when the mother is HBSAG negative is all risk, no reward. Newborns are not injecting drugs nor having sex - they have zero risk of contracting this disease when mom is Hep B negative. By the time they are old enough to consider having sex (or doing drugs) whatever risk reduction provided by the vaccine may well have worn off.

Here's the irony - no one wants to tell people the easiest way to avoid these infections. Reserve sex for marriage (marriage being defined as one man, one woman until death parts them). Uganda implemented the A/B/C strategy, telling people to Abstain from sex until married, Be faithful to their spouse, and use Condoms as a last resort - recognizing natural law and respecting it - and also respecting peoples basic intelligence, expecting them to recognize common sense. It's ironic that people presumed to be some of our best and brightest (because they are in leadership and setting policy, or because they are "scientists") pursue strategies that are high-tech and expensive and complicated while refusing to consider simpler, less expensive strategies first. 

The paradox is that many perceive christians as being less free because of biblical restrictions on sexual activity - yet the exact opposite is true. 

If Bill Gates wants to help the most people live he should abandon vaccines and instead set about providing clean drinking water and basic sanitation.  I'm sure he could find a way to make money doing that as well.

We are designed to live in freedom, yet we have confused what it means to be free and have exchanged liberty for license. And as a result we are less free.