Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

[AlaskaDenise]

http://foodconsumer.org/7777/8888/Non-f_ood_Things_27/013111242007_Should_girls_be_forced_to_receive_HPV_vaccine.shtml

By Ben Wasserman - foodconsumer.org
Jan 31, 2007 - 11:24:46 AM

Merck is vigorously lobbying state lawmakers to pass legislation to add its new vaccine against cervical cancer in the list of vaccinations that children are required to receive to be admitted into school, according to news reports.
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</O:P>Gardasil is the first vaccine the Food and Drug Administration approved in June 2006 for use in females ages 9-26 years to prevent cervical cancer, which in most cases results from infection of human papillomavirus or HPV. Trial results indicated that the recombinant vaccine is safe and effective against HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18, which are responsible for about 70 percent of the total cases of cervical cancer in women.
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</O:P>The trials were conducted for a short term (a few years) though, meaning that the long-term efficacy and safety of the vaccine remain unknown, which concerns some people. Because there is no absolutely guarantee that the cervical cancer vaccine won't cause any serious problem in each and every female, the FDA requests that adverse reactions and other problems related to the vaccine be reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System at www.vaers.hhs.gov.
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</O:P>HPV is a collective name for more than 100 different types of the virus among which more than 30 can be passed from one person to another through sexual contact. In the overwhelming majority of women, the body's own defense system will clear the virus and they don't develop any serious condition. But, because of the HPV infection, 10,000 women are expected to be diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3,500 die from the disease each year in the <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 /><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">U.S.</ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
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</O:P>Soon after the FDA approved the vaccine, the CDC's Advisory Committee made its recommendation on June 26, 2006 that "a newly licensed vaccine designed to protect against human papillomavirus virus (HPV) be routinely given to girls when they are 11-12 years old," paving the way for states to add the vaccine in their already crowded vaccination schedules for children. The recommendation of The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices "also allows for vaccination of girls beginning at nine years old as well as vaccination of girls and women 13-26 years old," according to the CDC.
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</O:P>With the federal government's approval and recommendation for the vaccine, Merck has started its dollar-empowered lobbying effort nationwide to get as many states as possible to add its vaccine in the list of required vaccines. As many as 18 states are considering a bill that requires young girls to receive three shots of the vaccine, which would cost $360. But so far, no state has yet to add the vaccine to the list of vaccines children must receive to be enrolled in school.
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</O:P>According to news reports, much of Merck's effort is invested in Women in Government which is an advocacy group of female state legislators around the country. "A top official from Merck's vaccine division sits on Women in Government's business council, and many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women in Government," Seattle Post Intelligencer reported. Some watchdog accused Women in Government of being too cozy with Merck, which admitted it donated money to the organization.
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</O:P>"Cervical cancer is of particular interest to our members because it represents the first opportunity that we have to actually eliminate a cancer," Women in Government President Susan Crosby was quoted as saying. But critics say that the point is not to eliminate cervical cancer, it is about whether or not girls should be forced to receive the vaccine.
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</O:P>Some conservatives and parents'-rights groups that value premarital abstinence are concerned that this forceful vaccination would give girls an incorrect perception of sex safety and encourage girls to have premarital sex, which is discouraged or prohibited in many conservative families. The vaccine does not prevent sexually transmitted disease such as HIV other than some HPV infections.
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</O:P>Some state lawmakers, republican and democrat alike, said that it would be the public interest to require that girls receive the HPV vaccine.
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</O:P>"I look at this no different than vaccinating our children for polio," Rick Perry, the republican governor of <ST1:STATE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Texas</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE> was quoted as saying. "If there are diseases in our society that are going to cost us large amounts of money, it just makes good economic sense, not to mention the health and well being of these individuals to have those vaccines available."
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</O:P>Critics argued that HPV infection is in no way comparable to polio. People get HPV because of their own lifestyle. But in the case of polio, people get infected involuntarily. This means that individuals should personally be responsible for HPV infection and forceful vaccination of the cervical cancer vaccine in girls is not warranted.
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</O:P>Dr. Joseph Mercola, a noted physician who promotes natural health, called the Merck?s vaccine worthless. He pointed out that HPV is behaviorally avoidable. He said ?a New England Journal of Medicine study found the use of condoms reduces the incidence of HPV by 70 percent. By comparison, Gardasil counteracts four varieties of HPV that cause 70 percent of the cases of cervical cancer and 90 percent of genital warts.?
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</O:P>Dr. Mercola also said on his web site that ?cancer prevention is not as simplistic as taking a vaccination. Maintaining a high level of immune integrity is the key, and this is done through the basics of emotional balancing, optimized nutrition, avoidance of toxins, proper sleep, exercise and hydration.? He suggested women better take care of general health and enhance their immune system to help the body to clear HPV infection naturally.
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</O:P>There is no argument that women have a right to receive the vaccine to reduce their risk of cervical cancer should they be concerned about the disease because of the lifestyle they follow. But likewise, many agree that people have a right to reject injection of any drug in their vein for any purpose.
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</O:P>Analysts said Merck can rake in 1 billion dollars in a year even without states? requirement of the vaccine in young girls. With the states' requirement, the anti-cervical cancer vaccine can bring Merck much more business annually.

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[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

..........<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P></O:P>Critics argued that HPV infection is in no way comparable to polio. People get HPV because of their own lifestyle. But in the case of polio, people get infected involuntarily. ............. He pointed out that HPV is behaviorally avoidable. ..........“cancer prevention is not as simplistic as taking a vaccination. Maintaining a high level of immune integrity is the key, ........” He suggested women better take care of general health and enhance their immune system to help the body to clear HPV infection naturally. ...'

I think some of these statements need further clarification.

The unknowing partners of HPV-infected persons (e.g, wives) are infected involuntarily.

Also, HPV can be passed to infants - causing a variety of life-long problems - airway obstruction, growths in the larynx and lungs, and in later years cancer of the larynx and lungs. see: http://www.bcm.edu/oto/grand/051399.html

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[Niko]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

**snipped from http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/doc...01-01-vol1.pdf

VI. Statement of the basis for disagreement with the present classification status
[21 CFR ? 860.123(a)(5) ]

The basis of this reclassification request is that the present regulatory classification of HPV DNA
tests as devices intended for use in identifying and typing HPV infection to stratify women at
risk for cervical cancer, thus assigned to class I II, requiring submission and approval of PMAs
[2], is no longer appropriate because continued designation of low-to-moderate risk HPV DNA
test devices as class III devices contradicts the current understanding of HPV infection and its
relationship to the development of cervical cancer . Based on new scientific informatio n
published in the past 15 years, it is now generally agreed that identifying and typing HPV
infection does not bear a direct relationship to stratification of the risk for cervical cancer . Most
acute infections caused by HPV are self-limiting [1, 4-7] . It is the persistent HPV infection that
may act as a tumor promoter in cancer induction [8-11] . Identifying and typing HPV is an
important tool for following patients with persistent HPV infection. Repeated sequential transient
HPV infections, even when caused by "high-risk" HPVs, are characteristically not associated
with high risk of developing squamous intraepithelial lesions, a precursor of cervical cancer .

A woman found to be positive for the same strain (genotype) of H PV on repeated testing is
highly likely suffering from a persistent HPV infection and is considered to be at high risk of
developing precancerous intraepithelial lesions in the cervix . It is the persistent infection, not the
virus, that determines the cancer risk .

The FDA has accepted the above interpretation of current medical science, as reflected in its
March 31, 2003 announcement on approval of the Digene HC2 High-Risk HPV DNA Test while
making the following public statements on record [i] :

"The FDA today approved expanded use of a laboratory test to detect the presence in women of
human papillomavirus (HPV), one of the most common sexually transmitted infections ."

"The HPV DNA test does not test for cancer, but for the HPV viruses that can cause cell changes
in the cervix . If left untreated, these changes can eventually lead to cancer in some women ."

"Most women who become infected with HPV are able to eradicate the virus and suffer no
apparent long-term consequences to their health . But a few women develop a persistent infection
that can eventually lead to pre-cancerous changes in the cervix ."

". . .most infections are short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer."

**snipped from http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2003/NEW00890.html

The HPV DNA test is not intended to substitute for regular Pap screening. Nor is it intended to screen women under 30 who have normal Pap tests. Although the rate of HPV infection in this group is high, most infections are short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer.

**snippets from a study published in JAMA available at: http://louisville.edu/medschool/med-...%20Article.pdf

"No significant evidence of a vaccine therapeutic effect was observed in analyses restricted to women who received all doses of vaccine or those with evidence of single HPV infections at entry (Table2). We observed no evidence of vaccine effects when we stratified the analysis on selected study entry characteristics reflective of [various parameters] (TABLE3). Similarly, no evidence of vaccine effects was observed in analyses stratified by other study entry parameters thought to potentially influence clearance rates and efficacy of the vaccine, including time since sexual initiation, oral contraceptive use, cigarette smoking, and concomitant infection with C trachomatis or N gonorrhoeae (Table 3)."

"... rates of viral clearance over a 12-month period are not influenced by vaccination."

"...given that viral clearance rates did not differ by treatment group and that persistent viral infection is the best established predictor of risk of progression, it is unlikely that vaccination could have a significant beneficial impact on rate of lesion progression.1,17

Results from our community-based study provide strong evidence that there is little, if any, therapeutic benefit from the vaccine in the population we studied. Furthermore, we see no reason to believe that there is therapeutic benefit of the vaccine elsewhere because the biological effect of vaccination among already infected women is not expected to vary by population.

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

I love two women very much who have had an ongoing problem with cervical cancer. One of which is my sister. Their husbands gave them the papilloma virus. She is paying, possibly with her life, with his inability to keep his zipper up when he was footloose and fancy free. Lifestyle my aunt Fanny, they did nothing wrong and now one has lost her uterus and the other had a VERY difficult pregnancy (there wasn't enough cervix left to hold the baby in, she was sewn shut and was on bed rest for four months) and she will eventually lose her uterus to cancer as well. I say yes, women have no control over who their husbands partners were prior to their union.

[Thornton]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

The title of the thread states "be forced" for a vaccine.

Forced treatment is imposed in the USA only for acute danger of death or permanent injury. There is no force imposed for vaccines that would imminently save thousands of lives.

Add the issue of forced profits and it is even more complicated.

I pray we protect our children from forced exposure to HPV (and its vaccine) until they reach the age of reason.
JT

[Niko]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

Shannon, I am sorry to hear of your sisters' cancers. I have a couple of good friends with similar histories.

Thornton, I agree "forced" is used incorrectly in the initial article's title. Children can't be forced to attend public school either. However, most (all?) states require that children be immunized for various diseases prior to enrollment in public school. Some states have started to discuss or enact laws requiring HPV vaccination.

NOTE: Texas requirement was shot down by the legislature

States Consider Requiring HPV Vaccine for Girls

by Brenda Wilson

February 5, 2007 ? Texas has become the first state to require girls to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus. HPV is a generally asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection that about half of Americans contract. It's even more common among women; scientists estimate that 80 percent or more have had HPV by age 50.
Last summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that girls be vaccinated, starting at age 12.
The move to require the HPV vaccine for adolescent girls began right after the CDC made its recommendation. Within months, a bill was introduced in the Michigan assembly. It was defeated. A watered-down version was introduced again this year. Now 18 states and the District of Columbia have followed suit....

snipped from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=7190905

Disclaimer:

I am not an opponent of vaccinations and we have vaccinated our children on schedule for their ages. My husband, our 10 yr old and I were all vaccinated for flu this year.

I don't presume to make any assessments on the relationship between HPV and cancer. I knew there were arguements regarding the mandating of HPV vaccines for various moral and/or religious reasons. It came as a bit of a surprise to me that the science is controversial. I'll leave the analysis to others much more qualified than me.

Another interesting read:
The Ethics and Politics of Compulsory HPV Vaccination
<center>

James Colgrove, Ph.D., M.P.H.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/23/2389

</center>

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

While diet can subdue HPV-induced cervical cancer (or at least the beginning angiogenesis), we cannot assume that all impacted women will follow the diet. Furthermore, let's not forget the impacted infants.......will they follow an appropriate protocol for their entire lives?

One question for which I cannot find an answer:

Given that there is more than one HPV strain that can cause cervical cancer, IF a women is infected with more than one of those dangerous strains - can her body fight off the cancer successfully with diet, or do multiple dangerous strains worsen the prognosis?

.

[Cairelle RN]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

The title of the thread states "be forced" for a vaccine.

Forced treatment is imposed in the USA only for acute danger of death or permanent injury. There is no force imposed for vaccines that would imminently save thousands of lives.

Add the issue of forced profits and it is even more complicated.

I pray we protect our children from forced exposure to HPV (and its vaccine) until they reach the age of reason.
JT

I absolutely, 100&#37; agree with you. No person should be "forced" to have a vaccine, and I don't even want to begin the discussion about the politicians and their buddies in the drug company that manufactures this vaccine. Nothing like a bit of pocket-lining ($$$$) to bring about changes in the law that force mothers to vaccinate their daughters!

[JJackson]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

While I am delighted that this drug has come to market I would be very unhappy to see any new drug go so quickly to this level of application from such a low base of knowledge on side effects. The case here does not seem to be proven to the extent it warrants an immediate escalation to mandator vaccination. If after a number of years and compelling evidence of safety, and efficacy, from follow up studies then add it to schools jabs list with a strong recommendation for acceptance.

[tsspar]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

Me being a run of the mill mother, not a health professional still felt the need to say something about this issue. I do not support the government trying to force me into giving any of my children (I have 3 daughters and 1 son), a vaccine of this nature. that said my daughters have(and will when old enough) be given this vaccine by my choice. thanks for letting me share my feelings on this Theresa

[mixin]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

Add my NO to the others. Somewhere in all the Merck docs I read, the FDA listed some long term concerns that I found worrisome.

I'm glad there are mothers and young women who are willing to be vaccinated; we need that to be done. But I think it's unwise to vax a complete generation of girls in that age bracket only to have yet another drug recall when the long term effects come into view.

The $$$ and politics involved in this situation made me very suspicious.

[swampfire]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

I don't think anyone should be forced to receive HPV vaccine, however as an old RN who has worked in surgery for years, I think everyone needs to be educated about HPV in plain English. The first case of venereal warts I saw was a 15 year old girl pregnant with twins. It was in the 70's. She was brought in to have them burned off her perineal and peri-anal area. I have never seen such masses of warts in my life. You could not see her vaginal opening or anus. There were so many. I don't know she urinated or defecated. The Dr. burned some off, but he didn't make a dent in them. My daughter has HPV and has had numerous treatments for it. She is now pregnant and goes for an ultra-sound weekly to check her cervix. Prior to getting pregnant, she felt a lump in her vagina [after a clean pap], had it biopsied and it was cancer -in-situ. She is 7 months pregnant now and has felt another lump. Seems it's multifocal. When the baby is born, this lump will be biopsied also. Girls who have HPV need to do a vaginal check just like you do a monthly breast check. The doctor needs to check the vaginal wall thoroughly when he/she does a pap smear. I have seem areas of men's bodies look like Swiss Cheese after having papillomas burned off. They're not always just on the penis. Oral sex? Ask your ENT guy. I think I've made my point. HPV can be devastating!!! It has been in my family's life.

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

Quarter of adolescent U.S. girls received HPV vaccine

Thu Oct 9, 2008 5:44pm EDT
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A quarter of girls aged 13-17 in the United States received Merck & Co's Gardasil vaccine last year to protect against the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, the U.S. government said on Thursday.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided the first look at how many adolescent girls are getting the vaccine, which won approval in June 2006 for preventing cervical cancer and genital warts in young women and girls aged 9-26.

Based on data on about 3,000 girls nationwide, the CDC said 25 percent had received at least one dose of the three-shot series in 2007, which translates to about 2.5 million girls.

Just under a third of adolescents got shots against potentially deadly meningitis, another new vaccine.

"It generally takes about seven or eight years before you can go from a new vaccine all the way to having 90 percent coverage rate, which would be the eventual target," Dr. Lance Rodewald, head of the CDC's division of immunization services, said during a conference call with reporters.

"In general, we're quite pleased with the results at 25 percent. But it points out that we've got a long ways to go."

Rodewald said the CDC did not have estimates on how many women up to age 26 were getting the vaccine.

Gardasil targets four strains of the human papillomavirus, also called HPV, a common sexually transmitted virus that causes genital warts and most cases of cervical cancer.

Merck said in a statement it is encouraged by the CDC findings "but more needs to be done to help protect the other 75 percent."

More than 18 million Gardasil doses have been distributed in the United States. Merck has said it expects the vaccine to reach between $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion in 2008 sales.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc makes a rival vaccine, Cervarix, but said in June it did not expect to win U.S. approval for it until late 2009.

Common side effects from the vaccine include those seen with other injections such as fainting and injection pain as well as headache, nausea and fever, the FDA said.

Some consumers, doctors and others have raised questions about Gardasil's safety but the FDA and CDC said the most serious adverse events did not appear linked to the vaccine.

The survey provided estimates for two other vaccines recommended at age 11 or 12 -- the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (whooping cough), or Tdap, vaccine, and the meningitis vaccine.

It showed that 32 percent had received Sanofi-Pasteur's MCV4 meningitis vaccine, up from 12 percent in 2006, and 30 percent received the Tdap vaccine, up from 11 percent in 2006.
.

[tropical]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

"#12: ..."

As Swampfire explained in #12, veneric diseases, tumors, and cancers are not cold.

On the other side, if it isn't in their interest, nobody like to be constricted to something.

But, what is the medical meaning of vaccine production?
Obviously an needed prevention from an deadly, or inabilitating illness.

If trying to comment this thread, maybe to point that the problem is not if they must be forced, the problem is what is the real need and quality of an vaccine.

If the population create a society which further create institutions and laws which enabled an vaccine production proliferation, the problem is are they registered because of marketing selling needs, or because of society population healing needs?

If the answer is for healing needs, than the instaurated vaccine quality control filtering institutions are the ones to strech why an vaccine was realeased to be inoculated, by we choosing to be inoculated, or not (mandatory).

For this commented vaccine we can read in #6 that:

"States Consider Requiring HPV Vaccine for Girls
by Brenda Wilson
February 5, 2007 &#183; Texas has become the first state to require girls to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus. HPV is a generally asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection that about half of Americans contract.
It's even more common among women; scientists estimate that 80 percent or more have had HPV by age 50.
Last summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that girls be vaccinated, starting at age 12."


The above was saying that 80&#37; of women population would got it by 50!
Saying that cancer is not scientificaly proved to be linked DIRECTLY to HPV, is not enaugh good, when we saw that was scientificaly proved that "persistent infection may act as a tumor promoter", apart of the dispute if HPV is, or not, directly related!

From #3:
"Based on new scientific information published in the past 15 years, it is now generally agreed that identifying and typing HPV infection does not bear a direct relationship to stratification of the risk for cervical cancer . Most acute infections caused by HPV are self-limiting [1, 4-7] .
It is the persistent HPV infection that may act as a tumor promoter in cancer induction [8-11] ."


So, even if HPV isn't directly linked, it is an bad illness, heavily wide disseminated, without early simptomes when infected, which further because of it's persistence may give cancer, plus other (#12) awfull outcomes.

Thinking to naturaly combat such diseases by today's toxical's weakened immune systems would be an success of an esigue minority, and maybe.

Instead of ousted an wide preventive vaccine use, the efforts must be redirected to control unnecessary vaccine Market induced proliferations by 100% proof vaccine control measures, and institutions.

In the meantime, it must be assured that such HPV vaccine are realy without harming collateral effects or builded components.

If the above is accomplished, maybe, giving that vaccine as a must to girls in age when they didn't start with any intercourses yet, seems maybe an good option to PREVENT HPV infection inducted tumors, or cancer.
Not for the infected, but for the non infected ones.

If the above is unaceptable, and apart religion choosed choices, scientificaly start to enforce the use of male preservatives (or apstinence), as for aids, this way exist a chance (maybe) to escape the microbe.

[kiwibird]

Re: Should girls be forced to receive HPV vaccine?

If we are talking about limiting the spread of this disease, why are boys and men not being targeted for vaccination as well (Yes I understand the cancer risk is for women - but the resevoir certainly seems to be men!)

On a personal note I do not believe anyone should be forced to have any vaccination.