Posted on 01/31/2007 4:01:47 AM PST by XR7
A bill concerning the mandatory vaccination of US middle-aged schoolgirls against cervical cancer is considered controversial and some states even try to pull it back.
The vaccine is only produced by Merck Sharp & Dohme (Merck & Co) and is called Gardasil. This is the world’s first vaccine against cervical cancer and other diseases caused by certain types of the human papillomavirus (HPV).
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gardasil for mass-prescription on June 8, 2006, after a lot of clinical tests. The tests also indicated that Gardasil’s administratin to girls should occur before they become sexually active.
According to statistics, 270,000 women died of cervical cancer worldwide in 2002, making this form of cancer one of the deadliest. In the US, cervical cancer killed around 3,700 women in 2002.
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.
The success of the vaccine in clinical tests and FDA’s approval has determined more than a dozen states to consider introducing the mandatory vaccination with Gardasil. Some medical experts and watchdog groups have questioned though Merck’s active lobbying, although the company’s involvement is not a surprise, since it is for the moment the only producer of the substance. The groups and the medical experts also imply that state mandates are premature.
Sen. Kelley said she was not aware of "those external politics."
"The timing is just not right," she said, adding that she will likely introduce the bill again next year. "I decided to do this at a time when things have settled down and we can approach this in a more deliberative manner."
Gardasil is given in 3 injections over 6 months, namely at enrollment, and 2 and 6 months later. Gardasil protects against four subtypes that together account for 70 per cent of all cervical cancers and 90 per cent of genital warts. It has been shown to be more than 95-per-cent effective.
Some conservatives and parental-rights groups say such a requirement would encourage premarital sex and interfere with the way they raise their children. 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.
But Merck said its lobbying efforts have been aboveboard.
Merck has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group of female state legislators.
An official from Merck’s vaccine division sits on Women in Government's business council, and many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women in Government.
"Cervical cancer is of particular interest to our members because it represents the first opportunity that we have to actually eliminate a cancer," said Susan Crosby, president of Women in Government.
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."
The New Jersey drug company, which is building a vaccine plant in Durham, could generate billions in sales if Gardasil -- at $360 for the three-shot regimen -- were made mandatory across the country. Most insurance companies now cover the vaccine, which has been shown to have no serious side effects.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says girls and women aged 14 to 26 should also be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) even if they are already sexually active, because they may not yet have been infected.
Rep. Debbie Clary, a Cleveland County Republican, has no doubt that a North Carolina legislator eventually will introduce a bill requiring HPV vaccination. "I don't know if it will be this year or the next, but I'm certain it will be discussed," she said. "It's obvious that Merck is pushing for mandates."
"I think it will be a tremendous debate, because you're treading on territory that is a parent's decision," Clary said.
On June 29, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that Gardasil be placed on the childhood immunization schedule at the 11 to 12 year old visit. They also recommended that the vaccine be included in the federal Vaccines for Children Program, which would provide the vaccines free of charge to children under the age of 18 who are uninsured. Merck & Co., Inc. is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company. Established in 1891, Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs.
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?
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.
Gotta love those politicians, a Republican in this case. They always know what is best for us ignoramuses. What would we do without them?
I don't think most of those need a vaccine; it's either too late, or they're not exposed.
Let the cockroaches take over the world now because humans are getting more stupid every day.
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.
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.
That and the vaccine is not effective after a few years.
There is a massive push for this, and it doesn't add up.
Then we might have to let parents know when their little girl wants an abortion?
Can't let that happen.
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.
Public acceptance of this new vaccine will largely be determined as to where they stick the needle in.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It goes in the arm.
if it can prevent the virus in boys/men...well yeah!
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