So many of the comments regarding this confuse the heck out of me. There are so many good reasons to have girls vaccinated with this.
This has NOTHING to do with pushing sexuality. This has to do with preventing cancer of the uterus. This cancer is a HUGE killer. Vaccinating at these recommended ages ensures that the girl is protected well in advance to any sexual activity. I assume at SOME point in their lives.. whether it be 14 or 40, they’re going to have sex (unless their lesbians). Well over 70% of males carry the HPV virus, so it is a huge risk.
2 - Why does the child even need to KNOW what the vaccine is for? It’s a shot.. like any of the other number of shots they receive.. so to say that it promotes sexual activity is just not true. Handing out condoms in schools promotes sexual activity.
Sorry, but I work in the pharma industry, and we likely did research on this particular drug. Most of this hysteria that I hear sounds more to me like the “Down with the pharmaceutical industry” stuff to me.
Oh.. and 3500 adverse affects.. When doing research.. adverse affects can range anywhere from slight redness at the injection site, to watery eyes. Now the deaths reported.. those should and will be seriously looked into!
“Well over 70% of males carry the HPV virus, so it is a huge risk.”
Then why wasn’t a vaccine developed for boys who are spreading the disease?
But, I think you’re missing the entire point. The point was that many states were MANDATING this vaccine...and taking kickbacks from Merck to boot!
If a PARENT wants to give this to their child, it should be THEIR choice. Schools and states were MANDATING that young girls have this shot prior to being allowed to go to school. No shots for the boys, though.
It’s a Nanny State issue, not so much whether the vaccine is useful or not.
Funny how they’re considered women when we talk about their sexual activity, but when we talk about their right to know what the vaccine is they’re children.
If the children receiving the vaccine don’t have a right to know what it is, why bother telling the parents? Especially if it’s mandatory anyway. It’s not like knowing would do them any good.
If the government mandates that you shower with Zyklon-B, do you have a right to know what it is?
My body is mine, not yours, not the governments. Do not mess with it, I am a slave to no one.
That goes double for my kids.
You are right to be skeptical of the hysterical quality of the article. Five deaths out of probably millions of doses is not a significant risk. Nevertheless, the professed "need" for this vaccine assumes promiscuity--with appropriate behavior, the spread of HPV and lots of other ugly bugs would be stopped in their tracks. Furthermore, if you are really in the business, you know that there are many strains of HPV which are essentially harmless and only a select few which advance the risk factor for cervical CA.
IOW the jury is still out on this vaccine.
Cervical cancer causes about 3,500 deaths a year and the cervix is not a major site of probable fatal cancers. Additionally,timely pap smears could prevent almost all of the deaths that do occur. Furthermore,pap smears will still be necessary.
The vaccine has not been tested long enough to have the foggiest notion of the long term effects it may have on the girls receiving it or any children they may have.
The misinformation and disinformation on this vaccine is very disturbing and should make the public very suspicious of Merck as well as the vaccine.
And before you comment again,you need to read up!!
HUGE killer????
3500 deaths in North America (150,000,000 women) annually from all forms of cervical cancer.
Many preventable with regular Pap smears.
One would think that the vaccine should be tried over a few years with high risk groups.
Innoculating the general population is very dangerous for a very small total risk.