August 2020

August242020

Problems to overcome with vaccines to halt COVID-19

Dr. Moondust, cancer biologist and founder of Moondust Cosmetics® answers questions from Moondust’s social media channels about problems that challenge developers of COVID-19 vaccines.

Q. What are some of the problems with these vaccines?

Dr. Moondust: There are some potential problems with a coronavirus vaccine.

Briefly, we can anticipate that:

The vaccine may not work
Immunity may not last
The vaccine may be much less than 100% effective and also insufficient to create a herd immunity of 70%

Q. Can you expand on this, given your experience with scientific research protocols?

Dr. Moondust: Yes, in reviewing the literature available to us at this time, we know that:

Certain vaccines developed against SARS (a close relative of the virus that causes COVID-19), actually made the disease worse in mice.
Some vaccines can protect against a disease, but not against infection. So, we may find that individuals who we know to be vaccinated could potentially become asymptomatic carriers of the disease. They could still spread it in their communities.
Vaccines based on RNA from coronavirus, which is the scientific twist we are dealing with now, or other viruses have never been tried in humans before. There could be unintended and irreversible consequences.
At least one of the approved vaccines for the novel coronavirus had severe adverse effects in 3 out of 8 healthy people tested.

Q: Any final comments on what the public’s response to vaccine might be?

Dr. Moondust:

Well, individuals should really consider the pros and cons of vaccines and how they might impact their bodies.
It’s fair to acknowledge possible public resistance to taking the vaccine.
And finally, there may be complications like not being able to produce enough.

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August242020

Dr. Moondust on the prospect of a novel coronavirus vaccine

Moondust CosmeticsNews and Events, Sun Blockers

As we look more closely at our current pandemic situation, Dr. Moondust, a cancer biologist shares her observations.

Q. What do you think about vaccines for the current novel coronavirus?

Dr. Moondust: First of all, there are only two types of experts in this field – the virologists and the immunologists. I wouldn’t believe anybody else.

Here is how I see it so far:

• According to a well-placed Canadian virologist and an immunologist, it takes 10 years to produce a properly tested vaccine. Understandably, there is a race, globally to produce a vaccine first and fastest.

• In the case of a claim being made about finding a safe and effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus, it most likely won’t be available in time to make a difference to the course of the pandemic.

Q. Are there any approved coronavirus vaccines currently in use?

Dr. Moondust: So far, NO successful vaccine against any coronavirus has been produced.

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August242020

Pros and cons of the vaccine the world is waiting for to help us out of COVID pandemic

Moondust CosmeticsNews and Events, Sun Blockers

As summer’s end nears and we plan our return to school or to work, there’s a belief world- wide that vaccines will help us to also return to recognizable, pre-pandemic activity. Today Dr. Moondust, cancer biologist and founder of Moondust Cosmetics® responds to questions from Moondust’s social media channels.

Dr. Moondust, there is so much news and high hopes for a COVID vaccine, shall we start with some basics?

Q: What do you think about vaccines in general?

Dr. Moondust: They’re an incredible scientific discovery – one of the biggies – I’ve always loved the story about how Jenner (Dr. Edward Jenner, UK, 1749-1823) observed how clear skinned the milkmaids were. He found out they all had contracted a milder form of small pox called cow pox and it gave them immunity that others didn’t have. Small pox was a terribly disfiguring disease of the time. It affected both men and women and he was able to prevent it with the vaccine he developed. The word ‘vaccine’ is actually derived from the Latin, vacca, for cow.

Q. What’s been your personal experience with vaccines?

Dr. Moondust: As I have travelled all over the world, I have taken vaccines all my life without any problems. They included tetanus, typhoid, cholera, polio.

Q. Have you ever had a bad experience with a vaccine?

Dr. Moondust: Yes, for me it was the combination tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis vaccine given to me a few years ago. A month later, I developed symptoms that seemed to me like some sort of hemorrhagic flu with aches and pains in my joints. I was having nosebleeds, coughing up blood, and losing blood from other areas – it caused a hormonal imbalance in my body and I felt terribly weak for months because I already have a Mediterranean anemia.

Quite honestly, I think the vaccine may have been contaminated with a hemorrhagic virus and I have only had oral vaccines since.

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August122020

Skin care in the Sun is Part of Women’s Health

Moondust CosmeticsNews and Events, Sun Blockers

On this Moondust Cosmetics® Q&A, Dr. Annie Savage answers Helena Kaufman’s (HK) question about skin care in the sun and how it fits into a woman’s health care regimen.

Dr. Savage is a naturopathic doctor with a focus on women’s health and medical aesthetics. She is co-founder with Megan Maycher of Bay Wellness Centre, serving patients in downtown Vancouver. They focus on pain management, women’s health and medical aesthetics along with overall primary health care.

HK: Welcome, Dr. Annie Savage.

You recently chose to include Moondust’s Skin Protector Plus (SPP) at the Bay Wellness Centre. Can you tell us a bit about that decision on behalf of your patients?

Dr. Savage: So we work primarily with women at Bay Wellness so we always have, and especially in the summertime, women asking what they can do for sun protection.

Our clients at the centre have an awareness of toxicity and look for products with ingredients that are safe and that will still work for them. Women are worried about what’s on the face, in fact face and breast – the face and some of the chest is generally exposed when out in the sun.

To help, we looked for a really clean product that would offer healthy protection from the sun and we found that with Dr. Moondust’s creation.

HK: Is there anything particular about the Skin Protector Plus formulation that appealed to you?

Dr. Annie Savage: Yes. I met with Dr. Chanda Siddoo-Atwal, who is Dr. Moondust. I really loved her formulation, what she had to say and about the science behind it as she’s a cancer biologist. I really trust her work and all the research she put into it. We found SPP to be a really clean product. At Bay Wellness Centre this means that it doesn’t have any of the toxins that we don’t want to put on our skin. Women especially find themselves putting a lot of products on their skin with those ingredients we’d like to avoid. They’re found in the lotions and creams and makeup we use.

SPP meets our criteria for a healthy blended product. It works really well, which I appreciate in my wellness practice and just to be sure I also had a bunch of my friends test it out. They also found it feels really nice on the skin. For me that’s really important as I’m really picky about what I put on my skin and especially on my face.

I really liked that it was lightweight. It doesn’t feel tacky or gross and if you go out and you’re perspiring, it doesn’t kind of sweat off. All those components from science backed sun care to all the pleasant application made me want to introduce it at my clinic as a solution for my clients.

It went on smoothly and smelled nice and I trust that the ingredients are natural, pure and have protective properties to prevent skin burning in the sun – especially given the percentage of zinc it has.

HK: Yes, we’re learning SPP’s 13.5% Zinc Oxide offers a physical block to safeguard the skin from UV radiation (suitable for all skin types, genders and ages over 3 years old). In addition, zinc acts by blocking the replication machinery of SARS coronavirus, which is very similar to that of the novel coronavirus, making it a very likely inhibitor of both viruses as it absorbs into our skin.

Dr. Savage, thank you so very much for joining us today. It’s good that we can count on your care at Bay Wellness Centre and on the safer sun care choice of Skin Protector Plus.

Learn more about Dr. Savage and her naturopathic practice in downtown Vancouver at Bay Wellness Centre.

Till next time, take care and be safe in the sun.

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