In order to sell a drug for use in patients of a particular age group, the drug must be tested in that age group. The FDA will not approve any drug for use in an age group in which it was not tested.
Maybe kids should be discouraged from having sex at 12??
I don't think many people are encouraging kids to have sex at age 12 (unless they are Planned Parenthood operatives). The HPV vaccine must be administered to virgins in order to have the best chance of preventing future HPV infection; the probability that a 12 year old is still a virgin is very high as opposed to (for example) an 18 or 20 year old.
Some young women have died after this vaccine.
There is no verifiable or credible evidence that anyone has died from this vaccine. The "evidence" comes from anti-vax groups who do not want anyone to be protected from any disease. You might want to look into the history of anti-vax groups--their objections to vaccines always were based on the belief that God wants us to die from infectious diseases, and to prevent the diseases that would have otherwise occurred is to thwart the will of God. There is no reason to think that the motivation of current anti-vaxxers is any different (even if they appeal to "nature" rather than to God).
And yes, around 75% of the cervical cancers are from a couple of the HPV strains, but if you know anything about viruses......they always mutate.
It is my profession to know about viruses. Papillomaviruses are DNA viruses, which do not mutate as fast or as easily as RNA viruses such as influenza. The fact that 75% of cervical cancers are caused by only a couple of the >100 existing strains of HPV means that a lot of cancer can be prevented with a simple vaccination.
And the other 25% of cervical cancers can still be deadly.
The other oncogenic strains of HPV do not progress to cancer as rapidly as strains 16 and 18 in causing cancer. Some of them might not ever progress to a full cancer in every person who is infected. The vaccines protect against strains 16 and 18, which are known to progress rapidly to cancer.
From 18-49, now only once every 3 years. Age 49-65, only once every 5 years. And after 65, only if you have symptoms.
No offense, but that doesn't even make sense. The whole premise of PAP tests is to catch the cancer or pre-cancer before symptoms occur--which would negate the very purpose of waiting until there are symptoms before doing a PAP test in women over 65.
And I have to say that I am very happy that I will not have to have another PAP test for 5 years. Even though I was treated for an early cervical cancer when I was in my 20s, I was recently tested negative for HPV and will not have to have another PAP for 5 years. It is difficult to express just how much I hate and resent PAP tests, and how much joy I feel at not having to undergo one of those demeaning and violating tests again for 5 years. All of the indications are that the new guidelines are science-based, not based on a desire to limit healthcare expenditures. I am very aware that limiting costs by limiting care is a fundamental premise of Obamacare, but my opinion as a medical professional is that the new guidelines are science-based.
maybe kids should be schooled to be more chaste
Honestly... when, throughout human history, has enforcing chastity ever been successful? In Muslim countries, the penalty (at least for girls) for extra-marital relations is death... if the threat of execution is not sufficient to ensure virginity, then what *is* sufficient?
Keep in mind, the kids getting vaccinated against HPV have no clue that the major mode of transmission of oncogenic HPV is sexual. All they know is what their parents and the doctors tell them...that the vaccine will protect them from some cancer.
There are plenty of people today who don't oppose vaccination in general but who oppose particular vaccinations on moral grounds (made from aborted fetal stem lines) or medical grounds (the particular adjuvants used) or just a cost-benefit analysis (i.e. letting a kid just get chicken pox instead of the varicella vax).
When you start talking about mandatory vaccines, you are taking the choice away from the parents and putting it in the hands of a bureaucrat. So you are not only signing up for the full vaccination schedule now, you are signing up for any schedule that the "experts" deem necessary in the future. If you push for mandatory ones now....what, pray, are you going to do when there's something about the official schedule that you don't like?
I was arguing once online with a person who turned out to work for the vaccine industry. Even SHE had to admit that although she vaccinated, she did not follow the CDC guidelines in full but selectively chose what was appropriate for her children.
Nope. This one was tested in France and the group tested were all mid-twenties.
’ Papillomaviruses are DNA viruses, which do not mutate as fast’
But they still mutate.
‘Some of them might not ever progress to a full cancer’
Trust me. We were diagnosing cervical cancer before HPV exploded. The reason HPV exploded was the sexual revolution of the 60’s. When I started in my field, HPV was the newest thing. Before HPV, many in the medical community thought cervical cancer was caused by Herpes.
‘I hate and resent PAP tests, and how much joy I feel at not having to undergo one of those demeaning and violating tests again for 5 years’
Well then I hope you do not develop a uterine cancer after you are 65. You will not survive uterine cancer if you wait until you have symptoms to have your pap smear. We fought hard to be able to have yearly pap smears. And of course, it is a cost cutting measure.......it's run by the Government.
‘when, throughout human history, has enforcing chastity ever been successful’
Did I say enforce? I said it should be emphasized. Some kids actually listen to their parents and religious role models. Some don't. Doesn't hurt to tell them all about the risks of early sexual contact, does it?
This should not be mandatory.....ever. For those who want their children to have this vaccination, fair enough. But do not tell me that ALL kids will be at risk for HPV. It doesn't have to be that way.