C-Ville: Government - Mandate forces parents to weigh HPV vaccine risks

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Issue #20.40 :: 09/30/2008 - 10/06/2008

Mandate forces parents to weigh HPV vaccine risks

Local panel explores tough decision about opting out

BY CHIARA CANZI

Holly Edwards remains undecided about whether to vaccinate her teenage twin daughters against the human papillomavirus (HPV).

“I am not convinced,” said Edwards, registered nurse, city councilor and perhaps most important, mother, as she spoke to an audience made up mostly of women on September 23 at McLeod Hall in UVA’s School of Nursing. She was one of three members of a panel discussion on HPV and cervical cancer sponsored by the UVA organization Feminism is for Everyone (FIFE) and the Charlottesville chapter of the National Organization for Women.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD), with more than six million new cases each year and about 10 deaths among women every day. The Gardasil vaccine, manufactured by Merck & Co., is an extra step in the prevention of cervical cancer if coupled with pap smears.

"I am leery of the political will that deemed the vaccine mandatory," said Holly Edwards.

Edwards is among many who still have questions about a vaccine that, starting next year, will be required for all sixth grade girls in the Commonwealth. Virginia is the only state in the nation with the mandate, but it has a relatively loose verbal opt-out policy for parents.

“I am leery of the political will that deemed the vaccine mandatory,” said Edwards, who points out that gatherings like this one are “absolutely necessary” to educate parents and girls about public health. And discussion, she says, is a key component to having a healthy society.

Fellow panelist Dr. Mark Stoler recognized that mandates go against the idea of freedom, but “to protect the population, the mandate is the only way to do it.” Stoler acknowledged the need for men to also be vaccinated, because HPV can result in anal and penile cancer, but focused on the need to educate the masses on the primary targets of this type of cancer and the importance of the vaccine.

“Cervical cancer is a particularly nasty cancer,” he said. “It’s a cancer that occurs in younger women and women who are in the prime of their lives, who are taking care of their children. This is not a cancer of old age.”

But researcher and freelance journalist Cynthia A. Janak, who has been writing about the side effects of the vaccine, said that the risks connected to Gardasil are too great for a mandate.

“It’s very dangerous,” she said. In her research, Janak found that many young women who got the vaccine suffered from fainting, nausea and debilitating migraines.

Panelist Dr. Jennifer Young, fellow in Gynecologic Oncology at UVA, encouraged all mothers to vaccinate their daughters for the simple fact that at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in life and the cure can be long and painful.

“Imagine having to be in stirrups with a microscope in between your legs for 20 minutes —not fun,” she said. Young also said the mandatory vaccine could reduce the billions of dollars spent each year on curing genital warts, one of the linked effects of the HPV virus.

Nora Eakin, 19, vice chair for FIFE and UVA student, decided to get vaccinated but understands the frustration of parents who are forced to make a decision. “There is definitely not enough information on sexual health around,” she says. “I am not sure if people around campus know about HPV and the vaccine.”

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Comments

Thought would mention the book in case your board was interested in reviewing it- The HPV Vaccine Controversy-Sex, Cancer, God and Politics. Please visit the following link for more info: http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/C35011.aspx Thank you

Dr. Shobha KrishnanOctober 1st, 2008 05:11am

It's important the definition of "mandate" for this vaccine is defined. State law makers have mandated that schools provide educational material about HPV infection and disease as well as the vaccine information to rising six grade student families in the spring of '09. There will be no documents required varifying vaccination to enter the six grade in the fall like Tdap. The mandate is for education not vaccination. Unfortunately it seems most people who speak out about the vaccine and the mandate are ill- informed about both. I wonder if the family and friends of the 10 women each day that die from cervical cancer would agree that being leery of political will is worth the unecessary death of their loved one.

Tamara BaxterOctober 1st, 2008 03:49pm

October 4, 2008 THE RISKS OF THE HPV VACCINE: Responsible reporting should carry information about the risks of the HPV vaccine called Gardasil (which is rarely done). Diane Harper, the lead researcher, a scientist and physician, who has spent 20 years developing the vaccine for human papillomavirus, says that this vaccine is not for younger girls, and to mandate vaccinations now is simply for the drug company Merck’s benefit. Merck has spent millions buying the favors of the legislators. Most cervical pre-cancers develop slowly, so nearly all cervical cancers can be prevented with regular Pap smear screening and prompt treatment. Merck admits in its product insert that Gardasil has not been tested for its long-term neurological impairment, immune disorders, carcinogenicity or genotoxicity – nor it can affect reproductive capacity (www.909shot.com). Merck, with the approval of the FDA, used a placebo containing an aluminum adjuvant for the control groups (aluminum is known to cause adverse reactions and has never been tested for safety in clinical trials). This made it seem that that the Gardasil was safer than it really was, and there were more serious side effects experienced by the Gardasil group. (Trust FDA’s approval? We regularly hear of the illnesses and deaths from the so-called “FDA approved” drugs). Merck said it was halting its efforts to pressure states into making Gardasil mandatory because of the backlash among physicians, consumer advocates, parents and even legislators. The idea that we need to force people to take shots here in the U.S. flies in the face of everything America is supposed to stand for, says Carolyn Dean, M.D. (“U.S. Infectious Disease Policy, Based on the wrong Germ Theory” -www.carolyndean.com). Virginia Governor Kaine recently signed a measure giving parents and children more say in how a child is medically treated. However, it is important that they should not have to ‘jump through hoops’ in order to qualify for exemption. June Russell – russells@embarqmail.com 94 Oak Forest Circle Charlottesville, VA 22901 (434) 974 – 6595 Fax: (434) 974-1799 www.jrussellshealth.org * A few additional facts: Gardasil is linked to pancreatic cancer. A New England Journal of Medicine has reported that since Gardasil’s approval, nearly 9,000 girls had adverse side effects, 65 were deemed serious. These HVP shots are described by many as “a large-scale public heath experiment,” and there are reports that it is already responsible for the deaths of 10 adolescent girls. Gardasil label will warn of minor side-effects but not death or paralysis.

June RussellOctober 4th, 2008 09:57am

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