With millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses already plunged into American arms and hundreds of million more doses on the way, can healthcare professionals confidently receive the vaccines themselves and also recommend them for patients? While responses to this question often involve important emotional factors that need to be addressed, this article focuses on three […]
Read More[…] time, it has been difficult to find points of optimism. The rapid development of vaccine candidates utilizing varied techniques remains encouraging. However, while expeditious availability of effective vaccines is a laudable goal, the physician-led organizations presenting this statement stress the need for assurances of safety, efficacy, and a full commitment to uncompromised ethical development. […]
Read More[…] restrictions and working from home. Freedom of movement about our communities and the nation has been limited by “stay-at-home orders” and mass travel restrictions. The availability of vaccines provides a sliver of hope but also raises many questions. Issues our society must address include prioritizing equitable vaccine distribution and the potential for coercive mandates […]
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[…] more powerful vehicle for self-representation, and for increased leverage in negotiations to improve patient care. Further elaboration is contained in the statement below. Download this Position Statement Vaccines and Immunizations ABSTRACT:Immunizations benefit the health of both individuals and the broader community. Individuals are helped because immunizations prevent infectious diseases. Fewer infectious diseases then circulate […]
Read More[…] examined the ethical basis for taking a COVID-19 vaccine. The goal of the article was to reassure CMDA members of the good reasons to utilize the COVID-19 vaccines produced in the last year. Since the article’s publication, several members have written with ongoing questions and concerns about the ethical status of the vaccines due […]
Read More[…] wrote a piece for The Public Discourse, “Is Receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Ethical?” that suggested principles to consider as we navigate ethical issues related to COVID-19 vaccines. I’ve included brief highlights below; more from the original article and also new observations will be published in an upcoming edition of CMDA Today (previously known […]
Read More“I’m still a zero’: Vaccine-resistant Republicans warn that their skepticism is worsening”) that examined the vaccine hesitancy of conservatives.
Read MoreLast week, a friend asked me, as a family physician knowledgeable about COVID-19, to speak to a group she belongs to of community leaders, here in northeast Louisiana. I spoke about the current status of COVID infections in our area and the need for vaccination. The vaccination rate is low in our area—currently only 37 percent are fully vaccinated in our parish.
Read MoreIn a weekly column on Sunday, August 29, Evangelical attorney David French declared “It’s Time to Stop Rationalizing and Enabling Evangelical Vaccine Rejection.”
Is that really a thing, you may ask?
There certainly is some evidence for that. Among those who have already been vaccinated against COVID-19, white Evangelicals trail the national average by 10 percent. A significant difference, but not a dramatic difference. In fact, the majority are vaccinated, according to this tweet displayed in the article.
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[…] Free Clinic in the Era of COVID Facing the Virus Overseas Lessons Learned in the COVID-19 Field Hospital Courage through the Crisis: Stories from the Frontlines ETHICAL VACCINES: Ready for a shot in the arm? Vaccines and Conscience Protection Physician Support for Ethical Vaccines At the Heart of the Crisis: Personal Reflections on COVID-19 […]
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Letter to the Editor of CHEST (American College of Chest Physicians) opposing physician-assisted suicide in response to article by Attorney Kathryn Tucker’s article pushing physicians to help patients dye.
Read MoreWhen COVID-19 began sweeping around the globe in early 2020, career healthcare missionaries were faced with the option of staying in their countries of service to weather the storm or evacuating back to the United States before the borders closed. Without sufficient quantities of protective equipment for staff members, would rural mission hospitals be able to survive the pandemic? In countries where the medical infrastructure is limited at best, would there be enough resources? What about food and other supplies to help to meet the day-to-day needs if the airports closed?
Read MoreI have a soft spot for public health. True, I’ve been a family physician for 32 years, and have touched many people’s lives, but decisions made by public health practitioners have an outsized impact on health.
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A 2023 report by Pew Research Center reported that 13 percent of Americans reported attending in-person worship services in the summer of 2020. I was not one of them. Until we had a vaccine, I did not want people gathering in groups.
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As I write this, I am on Day 8 of a self-imposed quarantine for COVID-19. Dr. H and I managed to come down with it at almost the same time; so have several of our family members. No one seems to know just who gave it to whom, but at this point it doesn’t much matter. All of our happily vaccinated and boostered selves are doing better now, by God’s grace, and we are very thankful about it.
Read More[…] burden of the pandemic, conversations have appropriately turned to burnout among healthcare professionals. Most dialogues point to external systems, e.g., the shrinking workforce, limited supplies and political contentions over vaccines. While these forces exert significant influence, and indeed pose a crisis in many parts of the U.S., deeper and more personal dynamics are at play.
Read MoreAs organizations representing over 25,000 medical professionals, we would like to correct the errors and assumptions of the recently released joint statement from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH).
Read MoreAs representatives of over 30,000 physicians who practice according to the Hippocratic Oath, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), the American College of Pediatricians, Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the Catholic Medical Association, and the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons decry the call to continue elective abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic made by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and others which falsely characterize elective abortion as essential healthcare.
Read MoreA webinar series hosted by Christian Medical & Dental Associations and The Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary. Through The Convergence, CMDA joins together with The Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary to discuss topics important to today’s leaders in healthcare and in the church. Each webinar includes a panel of experts to discuss topics…
Read More[…] enforce conscience freedom law in healthcare, focus on international women’s health Dec 16, 2020 Read News Release Christian Medical & Dental Associations joins group in support of vaccines and conscience protections Mar 2, 2021 Read News Release Christian Medical & Dental Associations joins group in support of the Born Alive Survivors Protection Act Apr […]
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Member Awards One of the highlights each year during the CMDA National Convention is the presentation of the Servant of Christ, Educator, Missionary and President’s Heritage Awards. You are invited to nominate CMDA colleagues for three of these four awards, while the Missionary of the Year Award is selected by a commission. A one-page summary of…
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CMDA Today is a full-color, quarterly magazine devoted to today’s issues in healthcare, including inspirational testimonies from fellow Christian healthcare professionals, public policy updates, glimpses into the future of healthcare and examples of how to integrate your faith into your practice.
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[…] excited to release the new CMDA Today, formerly Today’s Christian Doctor. In this edition of the magazine, you can learn more about the ethics of the COVID-19 vaccines. Plus, get a firsthand look at the recent CMDA member survey, earn continuing education credit on the topic of human trafficking, learn how to start a […]
Read MoreWhen 2020 started, I had a plan. A plan to follow God’s leading to serve on a mission trip in Southeast Cambodia. Like everyone else, those plans were completely changed when the pandemic hit.
But God.
Read MoreMy husband and I had just moved from Michigan to Texas for my first year of medical school at the University Health Science Center San Antonio. We walked up to the door of a house we had never visited, hand-in-hand wondering what the evening ahead would hold, with unfamiliar people, in this unfamiliar part of the country. As we arrived at the front door, we could hear the sounds of conversation mixed with laughter inside, along with the delicious aroma of cooking pizza tantalizing our taste buds. Another couple our age greeted us warmly while handing us an apron, sending us toward a buzzing kitchen to begin creating our “couple pizza” for the pizza bake-off contest! Wow! It was a Texas size welcome.
Read MoreI remember early on hearing in the news about a virus causing problems in China. It wasn’t long before we heard news of it spreading. As it began to spread, we were busy planning for March, our busiest month of mission trips. We send the most teams in the month of March, which gives mission opportunities for various schools during the annual spring break period. We sent our first two teams out before countries began closing their borders. While these two teams were still out of the country, we began cancelling our remaining trips. First it was for the month, then it became two and on through the summer. Before we knew it, we had cancelled every single remaining mission trip scheduled throughout the remainder of 2020—all as a result of COVID-19.
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