Gardasil, the vaccine given to girls to prevent a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer, is continuing to be questioned on its safety and efficacy.
Representatives of the Population Research Institute attended an international conference on vaccination recently and listened to a presentation on Gardasil by an expert. One of the PRI representatives, Joan Robinson, noted the vaccine is designed for 9- to 13-year-old girls. She examined the research, and found that little to no impact would be made on cervical cancer rates.
"In 60 years of vaccination of at least 70 percent of the female population, [coupled] with all of those women also getting annual pap smears and monitoring as well as booster shots," Robinson explains, "they will only have reduced, at the most, a minimal decrease of cervical cancer."
Besides the usefulness of Gardasil, questions have arisen about its safety. In fact, 44 girls died after getting Gardasil shots while 15,000 reported adverse side effects -- and that figure could actually be higher because some countries do not gather or report the statistics. Now Merck, which manufactures Gardasil, is proposing to give the vaccinations to boys.
Robinson wonders at the logic of offering to boys now. "It's an interesting thing...since HPV is transmitted through the male carrier to a woman," she said. "I was actually curious why they didn't start with a vaccination for boys."
She suggests it may be because there is insufficient research. All in all, Robinson encourages people considering the vaccine for their children to be aware of the research and the difficulties with Gardasil before proceeding.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: October 20, 2009
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