Phew... at least we have the tallest tree...

An article in the Lancet, a respected medical journal, has published a study revealing that Hayastan is among those countries who have varying levels of discrepancies between how many children they report immunizing, using Funding intended for that purpose, and how many were ACTUALLY immunized. That means there are numbers that are out of place, and some money that may have lost its place, too. And no extra children were immunized. And we all know that there are still underimmunized children in Armenia. We're in a group with Zimbabwe, Somalia, and Myanmar. Again, a similarity with Myanmar. Hmmm. FYI, this study looked at the administration of the Diptheria-Pertussis-Tetanus vaccine, which all kids in the US get three times.

Now, let's not be hasty - I'm being serious. There are a number of recognized potential flaws, including but not limited to how the numbers are calculated to begin with, which has been a criticism of international health programs in the past. And there is some concern that the Gates folks (who funded the study) are blowing things out of proportion. FYI - none of the countries are being accused of corruption. As one can imagine, its extremely difficult to get accurate numbers to begin with. So funds to the countries are being frozen pending further investigation and explanation.

But, hey, don't worry! Armenia is going to have the biggest, tallest, brightest darn Christmas tree of all of the CIS countries!! Don't forget the really cool hot air balloons earlier this year...

What a beautiful sight for the children of Armenia to enjoy, while they lay in bed coughing from Pertussis, and infecting their Tatiks and Papiks! That tree'll cure 'em for sure!