Commentary: The Vaccination: Science Or Pseudo-Science?

It’s one of the latest debates to take place in the Ghanaian social sphere. The arguments are fierce, up close and very personal. As a result, members of parliament, scientists and even the innocent European bystander have all received their share of Ghanaian expletives. The verbal bullets let loose by Ghanaians were worse than an American drive by shooting!

What am I talking about? You haven’t heard? Ebola vaccine trials were to commence in the Republic of Ghana this month, June 2015. This is one issue that has really riled Ghanaians as seen from the buzz on online forums and news websites. But in the mind of this self-dubbed spiritual scientist, the Ebola vaccine trials need to be seen in terms of a bigger picture: can and should the African trust mainstream aspects of European “science”?As well, is the modern medical practice called vaccination really science or just another pseudo-scientific invention of the diabolic segments of European thought? Let’s take a look.

Origins of Vaccines and Vaccination
He’s often called the father of immunology; British physician and scientist Edward Jenner is well known in the medical world as the pioneer that “discovered” the first vaccine, the smallpox vaccine. Prior to this however, various Asian cultures were known to practice an aspect of medicine known as inoculation. The difference between inoculation and vaccination lies in the fact that the former uses unweakened live pathogens whereas the latter uses weakened pathogens.

Edward Jenner is known to have coined the term vaccine from the latin word vaccinus, meaning “from the cow”. It is Jenner’s work with a cow related disease that led to his vaccination discoveries in the late 1700s. Cowpox is a disease said to produce painful blisters as humans come into contact with infected cows carrying the cowpox virus. As the story goes, Jenner noted that female dairy workers seemed to have immunity against smallpox. The cowpox and smallpox viruses are said to be similar although one is said to be more virulent than the other. In the mind of Jenner, a Christian man who became a master Freemason, it was the pus—liquid suspended white blood cells—from the cowpox blisters developed by these dairy workers that gave them his perceived immunity against smallpox.

It is said that Jenner later tested his hypothesis on the eight-year-old child of his gardener. By both inoculating and vaccinating his subject with the cowpox virus from the blisters of the child’s mother, Jenner “proved” that the child was immune to smallpox. Given that Jenner had Christian beliefs, one can only wonder if he ever considered other possibilities behind his perception on immunity and the smallpox disease. The Christian worldview holds that disease is spiritual in origin and that physical symptoms are only a manifestation of spiritual (based on beliefs) and soulish afflictions.

Modern Vaccination, Public Policy and Maurice Hilleman

Since the 1700s, when Edward Jenner pioneered his smallpox vaccine with government funding, various marketing and public awareness tools have been used to make the nations accept vaccine science as sacred in the quest to combat disease. A major part of the marketing hype is the rhetoric of “eradication”. Yet, even when a disease is said to have been eradicated, we see it turn up every now and then. Clearly, this type of science is candidly uncertain. And given that the word science really means knowledge or truth, it is almost fair to say that this science is not knowledge at all.

Most countries have enacted laws to regulate both the vaccination process and the clinical trials used to establish the safety and efficacy of a vaccine. The Ghana Public Health Act, Part 8, sections 150 – 166 is the legal document that contains Ghana’s provisions for clinical trials in the country. The Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is the government agency tasked with both receiving clinical trial applications and approving them before such exercises commence.

To date, standard vaccinations exist against diseases such as measles, mumps, hepatitis B, chickenpox and even meningitis. All of the former vaccines were developed through the work of the American microbiologist, Maurice Hilleman. Unlike Edward Jenner, the inventor of the first vaccine, Hilleman is noted to have rejected religion early in life, opting fully to derive his earnings through the “scientific method” and government funding that usually go with a life in science and academia.

Hilleman’s work took him in the direction of a number of corporate led endeavours. When he was with the company now known as Bristol-Meyers, Hilleman developed a vaccine against Japanese encephalitis during World War II. In the process, he was considered a major asset to the American military. As a father, he used biological material from his daughter Jeryl Lynn to create the mumps vaccine after his daughter came down with mumps. After working with Merck & Co. for a number of years, in the latter part of his life, Hilleman became an advisor to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Trusting Euro-science
As you might have noted, it is mainly the European scientific worldview that “perceived” and hypothesized the ideas related to modern vaccines and vaccination. Despite the fact that other cultures practiced medical beliefs related to vaccination, modern vaccination, with its corporate and governmental agendas of profit and job creation, were born out of the European experience. Unfortunately for the African, European experience has often meant that Africa is at the receiving end of raw deals and even sinister motives that play out in internationally inspired public policy. Not to mention, African nations usually borrow heavily in order to validate unsubstantiated scientific protocols like vaccination, through their public policy.

Today, when we look back on history there are clear examples of the medical establishment of former racist governments like Britain and the United States having deliberately destroyed life in the name of “saving lives”. Case in point is the Tuskegee, Alabama syphilis experiment. This clinical study, which took place between 1932 and 1972, was conducted under the false premise of free health care from the American government. By the end of the experiment, numerous African-American male guinea pigs had died. Reports indicated that the syphilis disease had affected even their wives and children. That this was carried out by a national “Public Health” Service should make Ghanaians very aware that similar possibilities can and do occur within the African context of public health.

In examples like Tuskegee, we see the subjectivity and blatant misuse of the scientific method, a phenomenon which has produced death, along with more and more false science than ever before in history. When we consider how Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk fabricated stem cell related research in the late 90s and early 2000s, it should be even more apparent that the scientific method is not necessarily objective. It is subject to greed, ego and other base instincts. Hwang Woo-suk was later charged for embezzlement and bioethics law violations for his fabrications. One can only wonder what would happen if astute thinkers begin to unravel seemingly scientific ideas like climate change, or even the quackery medical notions of a field like psychiatry with its many “professional” drug pushers.

In our day, it is easy to label anything and everything academics and so-called scientists say as “intellectual” and “scientific”. But as can be seen from the Ghanaian public’s powerful kick against Ebola vaccine trials on their soil, the Ghanaian among other Africans is questioning the West about its science. If Ghanaians are against Ebola vaccine trials, then it stands that they must move many steps forward and begin to question much more that originates from Europe and wears the garb called science.

Naturally, this means that the foreign-educated Afropean classes that often run Ghana’s affairs must come under scrutiny about their own science, and public policy persuasions. As well, we must do more to inform the unsuspecting African mothers and fathers who readily subject their infants and children to Western-inspired public health initiatives.

Ghanaians have sent a strong message to a class of Euro-science based thinkers: their leaders. What message? Clearly, Ghanaians are saying to their leaders and others involved, “put your lives where your science is”. If it is really science, then let you and your families try the Ebola vaccine. I’ve never had more heartfelt joy to see Ghanaians wake up. I guess there is no vaccination against public enlightenment!Adzei!!