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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

More Questions About the HPV Vaccine

From the Wall Street Journal Online:

The company prefers to point to a subset of 4,616 trial participants who were mostly free of HPV when they were vaccinated. Only 52 of these women went on to develop precancerous lesions on their cervixes over the next three years, 46% fewer than among the placebo group. Merck says this smaller group of women is the one most representative of the 11- and 12-year-old girls for whom Texas and Virginia have required vaccination.

That's a pretty good reduction. However, people should know that the vaccine isn't a magic shield that's going to prevent an HPV infection; in the media and government hype, the fact that it doesn't even protect against all strains of HPV has been lost.

Another fact that's been glossed over:
Safety is another issue. Merck tested the vaccine in only a few hundred 11- and 12-year-old girls. Some doctors consider that number too small to declare the vaccine safe for preteen girls, given the big changes their bodies undergo.

And if you get your daughter vaccinated at age 11, which is the opening of the recommended vaccination window, she may be unprotected by the time she is most likely to become sexually active; researchers say the vaccine may no longer be effective in as little as 5 years.

If you want the vaccine for yourself or your daughter, have at it. Even though relatively inexpensive Pap tests have reduced cervical cancer by 80% already. Just be aware of all the facts.

But mandating it as some states have done, or leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill as we've done in South Dakota, is wrong.


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