Women Need Preventative Medicine

I find this kind of advertising masked as an Op-Ed really frustrating.

Here are some quotes and my responses:

...state legislatures should require that all young girls be given this vaccine, which protects against a virus that causes some 10,000 new cases of cervical cancer in the United States each year — and 3,700 cancer deaths.

This is a misleading statement because there is no statistical context. In order to make a decision based on these numbers we need to know how often the vaccine itself causes severe reactions. If millions of girls and women are being vaccinated we need to know how many of them are going to have reactions to the vaccine vs. how many will get cancer from HPV and how many will actually experience morbidity or mortality from the disease. Additionally, cervical cancer is treatable and preventable through safer sex practices and a healthy lifestyle that includes getting pap smears if one is sexually active. In fact, the survival rates for women who catch pre-cancerous lesions early is nearly 100%. To me the obvious conclusion is to provide accessible and universal health care that would allow women to utilize preventative tools and treatment rather than a mass vaccination campaign.

Here are some statistics on HPV infection...

With more than two million doses already distributed, the reported side effects have been mostly minor, such as dizziness or fainting.

A preliminary google search immediately turns up evidence that this may not be true. Also, since when is dizziness and fainting a benign reaction? I would be really concerned if my child fainted (not from a needle phobia) after being injected with something. What is causing dizziness and fainting? Could it be a sign of neurological compromise? Were these patients followed in order to track whether or not this was a preliminary sign of a more serious reaction? This article validates my concern:

"The most frequent serious health events after GARDASIL shots are neurological symptoms," said NVIC Health Policy Analyst Vicky Debold, RN, Ph.D. "These young girls are experiencing severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision, slurred speech, fainting, involuntary contraction of limbs (seizures), muscle weakness, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet and joint pain. Some of the girls have lost consciousness during what appears to be seizures." Debold added "The manufacturer product insert should include mention of syncopal episodes, seizures and Guillain-Barre Syndrome so doctors and parents are aware these vaccine adverse responses have been associated with the vaccine."

According to the National Vaccine Information Center, Merck's Gardasil vaccine was tested against a "placebo" containing aluminum, which is also a component of the vaccine. A true placebo would be an injection of sterile water, not an injection of aluminum. The aluminum itself can cause mild or serious reactions and therefore can skew the results by making it look like the vaccine causes not much more reaction than the placebo. I am continually amazed at the low standards for determining the safety of pharmaceutical drugs.

Others complain that a mandate will pre-empt parental rights to make health decisions, but all vaccine mandates do that, to protect the children and those they might infect.

This statement makes me cringe. A correct response to the concern that a mandate will pre-empt parental rights, would be pointing out that you do not have to vaccinate your child and that all states have some form of vaccine exemption that will make it possible for you child to be enrolled in daycare, attend public school, etc. Also, parents have every right to be wary of laws that affect our ability to make choices about our children's health. Of course the author of this article would never publish what I have written and wrongly asserts that mandatory vaccination protects children and prevents infection of others. What about those who have been vaccinated infecting others with the live viruses from the vaccines? What about the children and adults who have been injured or killed from vaccination? Why do children and adults who have been vaccinated still get sick with diseases like pertussis or mumps?

Merck deserves praise for developing Gardasil at a time when many companies shun the vaccine business as risky and unprofitable. But it is charging $360 for a three-dose regimen, a price that might come down if a competing vaccine enters the market soon, as expected.

$360 is about as low as it's going to get, for now anyway, and it will almost definitely cost more. According to this survey of pediatric practices, actual costs will be in the range of $500-$900 dollars. Who is going to pay for this? Parents? Insurance companies? Tax payers? Not Merck, and they are sure going to get rich on this scam. I want to know how much it would cost to provide all women with yearly pap smears and necessary follow up treatment. It would be interesting to compare those figures. Additionally, if all women were getting a yearly exam it is likely that many other diseases or conditions would be caught in early stages or prevented entirely, reducing the need for costly invasive treatment. Now how much money would that save? And who would get rich doing it...not Merck!

As usual, Barbara Loe Fisher, sums it all up:

"GARDASIL safety appears to have been studied in fewer than 2,000 girls aged 9 to 15 years and it is unclear how long they were followed up. [1] VAERS is now receiving reports of loss of consciousness, seizures, arthritis and other neurological problems in young girls who have received the shot," said NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher. "At the same time, parents who take their daughters to private pediatricians are going to be shocked to find that they will be paying two to three times the widely publicized $360 cost for the three-dose series. The cost is going to break the pocketbooks of parents and break the banks of both insurance companies and taxpayers, when the reality is that almost all cases of HPV-associated cervical cancer can be prevented with annual pap screening of girls who are sexually active."