Cervical Cancer Vaccine: Life Saver or Teen Sex-Life Catalyst?

playfuls.com ^ | 1/31/07

[XR7]

An official from Merck’s vaccine division sits on Women Womyn in Government's business council, and many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women Womyn in Government...Merck has funneled money through Women Womyn in Government, an advocacy group of female state legislators.

Follow the money.

Some fear the HPV vaccine’s protection would boost young girls’ appetite for an early sexual life. For other critics, it is the notion that their youthful innocence could be violated, during the course of three shots over six months, by a medical practitioner's potential sex-education lecture.

Of course, that would never happen. Just another case of rabid conservative parents standing in the way of a better world and women's rights, right?

[ChurtleDawg]

personally, I don't think that this would encourage teen sex. no one I ever knew even thought of cervical cancer as an STD. it is just lifetime protection against a deadly disease.
I think eliminating this disease is good.

[XR7]

Rep. Debbie Clary, a Cleveland County Republican, has no doubt that a North Carolina legislator eventually will introduce a bill requiring HPV vaccination.

Gotta love those politicians, a Republican in this case. They always know what is best for us ignoramuses. What would we do without them?

[Tax-chick]

US middle-aged schoolgirls

I don't think most of those need a vaccine; it's either too late, or they're not exposed.

[mtbopfuyn]

Some fear the HPV vaccine’s protection would boost young girls’ appetite for an early sexual life.

Let the cockroaches take over the world now because humans are getting more stupid every day.

[Vaquero]

It is my understanding of the new drug, that the best chance of the drug working when the women are adults is to give it them in the preteen or early teen years....

if that is the case and this drug CAN do what it is claimed to do, then it should be given to girls, just as my generation got polio and smallpox vaccination as children.

Not a liberal or conservative issue, but a health issue for women who can get the HPV from their husbands as adults.

this is not like the aids issue where abstinence is the key.

[BMIC]

As the first vaccine against an admittedly widespread Venereal Disease, it does introduce some interesting issues we've never really faced before. It's certainly NOT the same as measles, the mumps, whooping cough, polio, or any of the other diseases against which we make vaccination madatory for school attendance - all of which could legitimately be passed amongst children during normal behavior in the school setting. This one can only be a danger to classmates who are having sex with one another - not exactly a sanctioned school activity, no matter how much promoted by certain liberal school district's sex education programs.

IMO, it should be promoted, but not made mandatory. It's just not supported by many of the arguments that usually apply to other diseases against which vaccination is made mandatory. Better IMO to educate the public about it - without hiding the fact that it deals with a venereal disease like the current crop of commercials for it - and let parents exercise their right to make medical decisions for their children.

[Tax-chick]

I think the vaccine should be given to boys and men. They're at least half the transmission vectors for HPV, and fair is fair.

[BMIC]

no one I ever knew even thought of cervical cancer as an STD.

True enough, ignorance on this point is widespread. One reason is because it seems somewhat heartless to point out to someone fighting cancer that they caught it because they were sleeping around, or had sex with someone else who sleeps around.

[redgolum]

That and the vaccine is not effective after a few years.

There is a massive push for this, and it doesn't add up.

[XR7]

[L]et parents exercise their right to make medical decisions for their children.

Then we might have to let parents know when their little girl wants an abortion?
Can't let that happen.

[BMIC]

Most vaccines require periodic boosters, but the drug companies certainly aren't under any pressure to make sure their products confer longer-lasting immunity. There's gobs of money to be made if this is made mandatory... which means we should all be paying VERY close attention for any signs of inappropriate influence.

[mkjessup]

Public acceptance of this new vaccine will largely be determined as to where they stick the needle in.

[Tax-chick]

There is a massive push for this, and it doesn't add up.

It adds up to about $500 per vaccine series for the manufacturer, and if the state make it mandatory, then insurance companies have to pay for it, and state/local health department have to offer it. Big $$$ there.

And then, in a few years, they "discover" that everyone needs a booster (as they just have with the chicken pox vaccine), and here we go again.

[jalisco555]

Approximately 80% of American women are already infected with one or more types of HPV during their lifetimes. The notion that vaccination will lead to more sexual promiscuity is absurd. It will simply prevent unnecessary early deaths.

[BMIC]

Merck spokeswoman Janet Skidmore would not say how much the company is spending on lobbyists or how much it has donated to Women in Government. Crosby also declined to specify how much the drug company gave. But Skidmore said: "We disclosed the fact that we provide funding to this organization. We're not in any way trying to obscure that."

Due to their very obvious and significant vested interest, neither Merck nor their front organization, "Women in Government", should be paid any heed. Unfortunately, they are being looked to as experts by the MSM and policy makers. This is how bad decisions get made.

[jalisco555]

That and the vaccine is not effective after a few years.

We don't know that. The clinical trials only followed the women for a few years so we don't know if the vaccine loses potency after a while. And if it does booster shots should take care of the problem.

[Paleo Conservative]

Some states (through their Senate representatives) are not convinced yet of the efficacy of the vaccine. Sen. Delores G. Kelley, a Baltimore County Democrat, said yesterday that she plans to pull a bill she herself sponsored that calls for all sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated by September 2008. She voiced the concern of some parents and educators that addressed her, after chickenpox and hepatitis B vaccinations failed to immunize students from grades six to nine.

Imagine how disastrous a mandatory vaccine for AIDS could be if it turned out to be less effective than originally thought. It is well known what behaviors transmit AIDS. A false sense of invulnerability may encourage reckless abandonment of safe practices especially when combined with an educational bureaucracy that promotes an anything goes mentality about sex.

[jalisco555]

Public acceptance of this new vaccine will largely be determined as to where they stick the needle in.

It goes in the arm.

[Vaquero]

I think the vaccine should be given to boys and men. They're at least half the transmission vectors for HPV, and fair is fair.

if it can prevent the virus in boys/men...well yeah!