Give your loved ones an extra-special prezzy: the HPV vaccine

HPV Vaccine: Would You Give Your Kids Gardasil and Cervarix Vaccines?

Martha Rosenberg's clearly heard of the idea that any question in the headline of an article should be answered "no". In this case, however, it's a resounding "yes".

Even though Merck's Gardasil and GSK's Cervarix are highly advertised to doctors and patients, many women are just saying no to the vaccines, according to research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research in Philadelphia last month.

The vaccines protect against the Human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus which causes cervical cancer.

In 2007, 12,280 women in the U.S. were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4,021 died.

So vaccinating against this danger would be a good thing, right? Wrong.

And then there's the morality issue.

"I was greatly offended that Merck suggest I vaccinate my nine-year-old daughter against an STD," says Kelley Watson, a mother of two in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park. "Especially insulting to me was that there was never any mention of HPV as being a sexually transmitted disease. It was presented as something women can contract through tampons or nylon stockings -- as if men played no part."

Hmm. Hate to be the one to break it to you, but one day soon, sooner than you think, your nine-year-old is likely going to be experimenting with boys, and possibly men. Why is it considered against morality to recognise that possibility, that your daughter's innocent fumblings might result in a death sentence, remote as that possibility might be?

And after the patronising morality plea, here come the health risks:

In addition to causing fainting, allergic reactions, Guillain-Barré Syndrome and blood clots, 56 girls have died from the vaccine as of September says the CDC. 14-year-old Natalie Morton died last year, soon after being vaccinated for HPV at her school in Coventry, UK though authorities now say she died of a tumor.

Nice. Even though you admit that Natalie Morton's death had nothing to do with the HPV vaccine, you still think it's fine to stick the link in your article anyway. Classy, Martha.

And you don't provide a link to back up your claim that the CDC says 56 girls have died from the vaccine. Why's that? Here, I'll help you. This is the page on the CDC website which, presumably, you took your figures from. And here's a quote.

As of September 30, 2010, there have been 56 U.S. reports of death among females who have received Gardasil. Thirty of these reports have been confirmed and 26 remain unconfirmed due to no identifiable patient information in the report such as a name and contact information to confirm the report. Confirmed reports are those that scientists have followed up on and have verified the claim. In the 30 reports confirmed, there was no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine.

Whoa. Hold it a minute. Did you just say

there was no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine.

Yes, it did say that. But... that would mean... Martha, you're a dishonest, lying cheat, who takes a figure from a credible health information site, and deliberately leaves out the important bits, like

there was no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine

in order to pretend that it's supporting your own fanatically anti-vax views.

Fortunately, among the anti-vaxers and altie fanatics, there are a few savvy teens who have their head screwed on.

School girl said on 21 January 2010

I'm a fifteen year old girl and today i had my second HPV injection. To all those that are passing this up is rediculous. The bad side affects are really rare. All i get is a slight headache and soreness around the injected area fo 24 hours. I would much rather deal with that then actually get cervical cancer. Your daughters are at the age where they can make up their own mind about things and this is definately one of them! I highly recommend! The injection doesn't even hurt. So i think your putting your daughter more at risk from it by not letting her have it because she may not be old enough for screening but doesn't mean she won't get it at her age.