The media plays whack-a-mole as reporters put a feel-good spin on Gardasil

Vaccine whack-a-mole

This is a warning for all parents and grandparents: Drug giant Merck wants to inject every one of your young girls and boys with Gardasil, the controversial HPV vaccine.

It’s controversial, of course, because the total reported adverse side effects (including deaths) linked to the vaccine are staggering.

It’s also very expensive — about $400 for the three required shots.

But all those drawbacks don’t bother the mainstream media. Not a bit! It’s like major media outlets are playing whack-a-mole — always on a worldwide lookout for the slightest shred of good news about Gardasil to pop up, and then…WHACK! they hit us over the head with it.

Spanning the globe

Starting down under…

In a new Australian study reported by Reuters, researchers found that Gardasil use helped reduce the number of cervix abnormalities in young girls by “as much as 50 percent.”

That sounds pretty impressive. But buried in a lower paragraph is the laughably unimpressive truth: Among vaccinated girls, the rate of high-grade cervical abnormalities was 0.42 percent. Among unvaccinated girls: 0.8 percent.

The difference was just a few tenths of a single percentage point! And yet when you finesse the math, it comes out like a great headline and a big win for Gardasil.

In another recent study, Austrian researchers tested more than 100 men for HPV infection and found that about 10 percent had high-risk HPV, but none showed clinical symptoms of infection.

CNN — one of the media’s most generous Gardasil enablers — reported on the research, and offered this quote from the vice chair of the urology department at the University of Kansas: “Not only girls, but boys should be vaccinated because of these findings.”

Wow — that’s a huge jump to THAT conclusion! The study didn’t involve vaccinations in any form. And yet based on the results of his very small study, he’s ready to vaccinate every boy with Gardasil.

Of course, CNN’s report doesn’t let out a peep about the avalanche of daunting side effects linked to the vaccine that were reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. The same was true earlier this year when CNN covered a Gardasil study that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In that study — partly designed and funded by Merck — results showed that Gardasil was about 60 percent effective in preventing HPV genital warts in young men.

Now, you expect trials like this to have the drug company’s fingerprints all over it. But CNN didn’t mention anything about the study authors and their significant Merck affiliations:

* Seven authors were employees of Merck and owned Merck stock or stock options
* Five authors received Merck grant support
* Five authors received speaking fees or fees for board membership from Merck
* Six authors received travel reimbursement from Merck
* One author had “an approved, filed, or pending patent” related to subject matter discussed in the NEJM article

Well it’s just one big happy Merck family, cranking out a study with (surprise!) wonderful results for the Merck product.

“HPV vaccine effective in men” was the no-gray-areas CNN headline.

Now for the reality check: About 2,000 boys and young men received a Gardasil vaccine, and about 2,000 did not. Three years later, 36 in the Gardasil group had external genital lesions, and 89 had the same in the placebo group.

That’s a difference of only 53 cases, which is pretty insubstantial given the total number of subjects and the fact that we have no way of comparing the levels of sexual activity of the two groups.

Meanwhile, at some point, 36 men must have said something like, “Wait, I got the vaccine and STILL got genital warts? What’s up with that?”

Good question, Merck. What’s up with that?

Mothers and fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers – don’t be fooled by the media’s ridiculous whack-a-mole game. This vaccine is in no way worth the risk for your young boys and girls.

Sources:
“Fewer girls develop cervical abnormalities after HPV vaccine” Tan Ee Lyn, Reuters, 6/16/11, reuters.com
“Males should get HPV vaccine too, study says” Madison Park, CNN, 5/18/11, thechart.blogs.cnn.com
“Efficacy of Quadrivalent HPV Vaccine against HPV Infection and Disease in Males” New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 364, No. 5, 2/3/11, nejm.org
“HPV vaccine effective in men” CNN, 2/2/11, cnn.com