“En Guard”: HPV vaccine not all it’s cracked up to be…

We’ve all seen numerous ads in the last two years for the new Gardasil vaccine against HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). The first time I saw one of the television commercials over a year ago it stirred up something in me. I couldn’t really explain it then, so I dismissed it to either the really bad acting in the commercials, or some residual fear we all have about contracting diseases, especially potentially cancer inducing viruses. But the feeling stuck with me. I often refer to my gut feeling as my oracle and in this case, the oracle just wasn’t having it yet I couldn’t figure out why. The information was rather factual; yes some forms of HPV have been shown to be correlated with cervical cancer in some cases apparently numerous enough to devote time and money to developing a vaccine against it. Frankly they should have kept focusing their time and effort on aids but that is just my opinion….

I saw the commercials in full or in part a few more times as well as the numerous billboards in the metro stations. Then suddenly, it hit me: they weren’t even talk about SEX!!! That’s what was bugging me; it’s not about what they were saying in the ads it’s what they were not saying about how HPV is contracted!!! I had to see the commercial again and I paid really close attention this time… nothing… no mention of means of contracting HPV… I was completely appalled. There it was on my screen: pure and unrestrained fear mongering to sell a product.

The fact is HPV is a sexually transmitted infection, which means you have to be sexually active to run the chance of contracting it. This virus is transmitted by skin to skin contact which means that infected cells have to come in contact with the inside of a woman’s vagina to risk contracting HPV on or near the cervix. And even then it’s only some specific strands of HPV that are linked to cervical cancer. It’s not a 1:1 ratio either; if you are unlucky enough to have the wrong kind of HPV on or around your cervix it only leads to cervical cancer in some case. After all these maybes and suppositions the risk is rather small. In reality more women will die this year of pneumonia than of cervical cancer.

I know what you are all thinking, it’s just three little needle pokes and then you’re done… If you decided not to get vaccinated and down the road you ever were to get cervical cancer wouldn’t that be a shame? Well if it was just an inoffensive little vaccine then sure, it would be ludicrous to take a chance and skip the needle but there is a growing number of reports of serious side effects following inoculation including, but not limited to, anaphylactic shock, warts outbreaks, blood clothing, coma, paralysis, and death… as many as 14 deaths so far potentially linked to the vaccine. What’s more Merck, the big pharmaceutical company who produces and markets the vaccine, is aggressively lobbying to the make vaccination mandatory for school age young girls. This despite the fact that the injections will not be fully tested for safety until 2009. Another problem seems to be that there is growing evidence that the vaccine’s potency tapers off after three to four years. Which means that the long-term value of the vaccine has yet to be determined so it might not even be worth it to get the vaccine after all.

In the end practicing safer sex is still your best bet to avoid contracting HPV, as well as other sexually transmitted infections for that matter. Using a condom effectively and on ever occasion remains the smartest thing women can do for their sexual health.