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The vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil, was mandated for all young girls in Texas in 2006 and there were proposals for mandated vaccination in a growing number of other states. But a flurry of publicity about conflicts of interests by those who were pushing it in Texas and outcries from those who thought Gardasil shots would make girls run wild in the streets led to a shelving of plans to make it mandatory.
But is the HPV vaccine safe and effective? Since we are trying to prevent cervical cancer that will happen 20 years down the road we don’t in fact know the answer to that question. The fact is that noone did a randomized clinical trial to measure long term outcomes, so we simply don’t know if the risks outweigh the benefits. And in this country most women get pap smears which are very effective at preventing cervical cancer deaths, which are relatively rare compared to other cancers. And the women who get pap smears are going to be the same women who get gardasil, which you have to get every ten years.
And given the concerns parents have had about other vaccines, I am not surprised that some parents get nervous. And recent pushes to get boys to take gardasil is simply excess disease and prevention mongering.
A Freedom of Information Act request to the FDA showed that as of October 2007 there were 1,824 adverse events associated with the vaccine Gardasil, including 11 deaths. Known side effects of Gardasil include pain and swelling at the site of injection. Fever occurs in about 1% of cases. There are also recent reports of girls passing out after getting an injection.
Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a virus that is spread by unprotected sexual intercourse that affects more than half of the population. HPV can cause genital warts and in rare cases cervical cancer. For 95% of people, however, they are asymptomatic and never know they have an HPV infection. Although almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by HPV, since HPV is so ubiquitous it is uncommon for HPV to progress to cervical cancer. Cervical cancer kills 4000 women per year, only 1/10th the death rate of breast cancer, for example. If you do the numbers, that means that about 0.002% of women infected with HPV die each year from HPV-induced cervical cancer–not a very impressive number.
Safe sex practices, although not always realistic behavior to expect, especially in young people, are an alternative way to prevent HPV until more is known about the vaccine. However you should know that condoms won’t always stop infection, since HPV can be spread by parts of the genitals that are not covered by the latex.
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i was wondering when you’d get to this. i’ve heard of much worse than pain and swelling, like 16 year old formerly healthy girls needing pace makers because their brains no longer communicate with their hearts. a lifetime of serious medical conditions just to avoid the possible remote chance of maybe/ maybe not getting cervical cancer far in the future? i think not.
but of course, Merck reaps the rewards in the present and they much need the dough to cover the wrongful death lawsuits from VIOXX!
i predict that the minute the first boy dies after receiving the vaccine, it will be yanked off the market
I, too, wondered if I’d ever hear anything about this vaccine. I find the advertising for it outrageous. Just one more glaring example of how unscrupulous these drug companies are.
This is actually a repost of something I wrote over a year ago on either my old website or the huffpost. I just added the part about boys to update it.
Oh I forgot to add that with pap smear testing in the US most of the cervical cancer deaths in the US (4000 per year) are probably in women who dont get regular screening. And of course the women who get gardasil are going to be the ones who get screening, which almost eliminates cervical cancer deaths. The ones who really need gardasil are the Africans who have much higher rates of cervical cancer and dont have pap smear screening, but of course the cost of the vaccine is prohibitive for them, as currently priced by Merck. Go figure!
My pediatrician snuck in the vaccine on my daughter without my knowledge but I’ll be damned if my BOY ever gets it!
http://bipolarsoupkitchen-stephany.blogspot.com/2009/02/merck-cervical-cancer-gardasil-danger.html
It’s a topic worth discussing, for sure. The fact is, this is not a vaccine for prevention of something like swineflu–this is about cervical cancer, which is rare and forcing 12-13 year old girls to have to receive the vaccine before entering school.
I’ve been writing about this for a while, interested in how Cervarix and Gardasil were going to end up in the US as competition and now it’s happening. I’ve got photos of ads found in magazines for the DTC last Spring. The campaign to sell this vaccine is fearmongering, not necessary, the vaccine has not been proven to be effective decades from now, and the side effects of death and convulsions would implore me to NOT recommend it to my own 3 daughters.
The risk is far greater from the vaccine than cervical cancer. Besides when it comes to forced injections, I always am against them in any form.
I’m quite a fan of the Bremner site. Although a pharmacologist, I’m very opposed to over medication, especially by psychiatrists who appear to be one of the groups that have acquiesced to bribery by Big Pharma, to prescribe marginally effective drugs. But this post cames dangerously close to endorsing the anti-vax conspiratorialists.
You say “There are also recent reports of girls passing out after getting an injection”
Surely anyone who has given an injection of any sort knows that a certain fraction of people feel queezy or faint, quite regardless of what’s injected. For many years I ran a practical class in which medical students were injected intradermally with a small amount of local anaestheteic. Most years there were a few fainters, and that’s among medical students.
The risk-benefit ratio is always debatable, but better arguments than this will be needed, before giving solace to people whose actions could bring back smallpox, diphtheria, polio, mumps and rubella.
There is nothing conspiratorial about wanting to know the risks of vaccines and be able to control what goes in your body, and protect your children against dangerous shots.
Pardon me wrong word choice… nothing conspiracy theorist. Need to stop drinking wine and trying to watch The Office and post at the same time.
Amy philo
Of course not. WHeoever suggested that. We are the evidence people. It’s the conspiracy people who feel free the make stuff up.
How about this: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/blaming-the-media-for-gardasil-hype/?apage=3
Or this: “But, as this WSJ story noted last year, it hasn’t been clearly proved to lower the risk of cervical cancer itself.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/08/20/is-mercks-gardasil-vaccine-worth-the-money/
According to this website, brief HPV infection does not cause cervical cancer, but a persistent untreated infection may promote tumor growth. This risk is eliminated through regular pap smears.
http://www.cogforlife.org/gardasilfda.htm
“According to this website, brief HPV infection does not cause cervical cancer, but a persistent untreated infection may promote tumor growth. This risk is eliminated through regular pap smears.”
What you fail to get from this is that once infected, you carry HPV for life. It can cause cancer later in life, not just as a consequence of severe reaction to the initial infection. Similar to shingles after chicken pox. The point of the vax is to never get the infection in the first place. And risk of infection is not reduced by the Pap smear itself, but by the fact that optimal yearly exams should catch problems early in the process. What about all those women who can’t pay for yearly exams (and this is not an insignificant number).
Dr. Bremner’s post in essence credulously repeats antivaccine propaganda that would not be out of place on any antivaccine blog.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/10/now_theres_a_cage_match_id_like_to_see_w.php
Pay particular attention to Prometheus’ comment in the thread. You don’t need an FOIA request to access VAERS data. It’s freely downloadable.
EPIC FAIL, Dr. Bremner.
I just read my Drugs.com alert that the FDA has approved Gardasil for boy’s warts. The advisory panel decides on 10/21.