The “Washington Post” has run a couple of articles about the possibility of Governor Kaine signing a bill that mandates that girls receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine before entering high school. The governor had qualms with the bill, but he is apparently satisfied by the opt-out provision.
The last line in the first article (printed yesterday) caught my eye.
The bill would take effect in 2008, making the 2008-09 school year the first that girls would be required to receive the vaccine. Supporters said that provides officials enough time to study side effects.
We have set up a program to administer a vaccine to school children, and we do not know if it is safe? What is going on here? Why the rush?
Today’s article goes into more detail and more of the politics. HPV stands for human papillomavirus. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease associated with cervical cancer. Supposedly, the vaccine prevents women from catching about two-thirds of the different strains of the HPV virus. So accepting the vaccination improves the odds a woman will not get cervical cancer — if she ”needs” such protection because she (or her partner) chooses to engage in promiscuous sex.
Governor Kaine’s decision to sign this legislation comes at an awkward time, just after pharmaceutical giant Merck abandoned its lobbying push to convince states that the vaccine should be made mandatory for preteen girls to attend school (article here). Merck is the sole manufacturer of this vaccine.
We may be seeing a case where political influence is being abused. A real expert on the use of vaccines, Dr. Jon Abramson, the chairman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP), opposes making this vaccine mandatory (here). What is particularly damning is that we do not know how long the protection provided by the vaccine will last. Most likely, the children our politicians want to vaccinate will receive this vaccine too soon to do them any real good.
Middle-school girls inoculated with the breakthrough vaccine will be no older than 18 when they pass Gardasil’s five-year window of proven effectiveness — more than a decade before the typical cancer patient contracts HPV, The Washington Times reported last week (here).
Infectious disease specialists and cancer pathologists say the incubation period for HPV becoming cancer is 10 to 15 years — meaning the average cervical cancer patient, who is 47, contracted the virus in her 30s and would not be protected by Gardasil taken as a teen.
Dr. Abramson said the panel thinks the vaccine will last for at least 10 years. Even if it provides 10 years of protection, it would still leave girls given the inoculation in the sixth grade vulnerable during their late 20s and early 30s, when most cervical-cancer patients contract HPV. At that point, another round of Gardasil would be necessary.
Bloomberg reported that Merck hopes to make as much as three billion dollars a year from the sale of the vaccine.
And do you know how AIDS was spread? Dr. J. Man said that there should be no testing and no quarantin, as this will hurt human rights of homosexuals. Dr. Man practically singlehandedly (the entire Board of Atlanta Centre for Disease Control resigned) spread AIDS around the world.
Michael, if you are going to make accusations, then I insist you provide supporting information. Otherwise, I will delete your comment.