[r9etb]

I have one word: Vioxx.

And I have one word: tomato.

Tomatoes were at one time considered to be poisonous. At other times, they were frowned upon because they were thought to cause impure sexual desire in people who ate them.

Neither Vioxx nor Tomatoes have any damned thing to do with this vaccine, and whether it's a) safe or b) effective.

[mewzilla]

Neither Vioxx nor Tomatoes have any damned thing to do with this vaccine, and whether it's a) safe or b) effective.

I was making a point about approval not necessarily guaranteeing safety and/or efficacy.

[riverdawg]

The problem with Gardacil is that HPV is very prevalent in the adult female population, but the incidence of and number of deaths from cervical cancer are very small. This suggests that there are some unknown cofactors that are primarily responsible for cervical cancer. The public health question is: what is the net benefit (if any) from widespread vaccination with Gardacil compared to the current best practice of annual pap smears and, if needed, surgical removal of pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions. Wolfcreek provided some of the data needed to answer this question. Other useful data would include side effects of Gardacil, how long the vaccination’s protection lasts, the cost of a pap smear, etc.