What a teenage girl will tell you about the "cervical cancer" vaccine

Telephone Game

This is shocking.

My sister was at a mall and overheard two young teenage girls talking. One of them said, “My mom got me that safe sex vaccine.”

Of course, the girl could only have been talking about Gardasil – the vaccine that helps prevent human papillomavirus (HPV) in women.

As with the Telephone Game (where a simple message gets thoroughly distorted when passed from one person to another) the Gardasil message has gotten skewed as it’s filtered down from drug makers, to the mainstream media, to doctors, to parents, and finally to young girls.

The message starts out as “Gardasil helps prevent a virus that may cause cervical cancer,” and ends up, “Gardasil is a safe sex vaccine.”

And with that mangled message, these young girls may actually be under the impression that they’re protected from ALL sexually transmitted diseases. They might even believe the vaccine is a method of birth control.

If beliefs like these are being passed around in malls and high schools, this generation of teens may soon develop health issues they never dreamed of. On top of that, IF the vaccine works as well as predicted, about one in four girls who receive Gardasil will still be vulnerable to HPV and cervical cancer.

Off message

Here’s one way misinformation gets rolling: Last month, Reuters Health released a report stating that an aggressive HPV vaccine program that includes women as old as 45 could cut cervical cancer rates in half.

A “crippling blow against the disease” is how Reuters described the potential.

This new information is based on a University of Alabama study that found cervical cancer rates could be lowered by as much as 55 percent for 45-year-old women, 67 percent for 25-year-old women, and 85 percent for 12-year-olds.

Okay…three glaring problems with this harebrained study…

1) These numbers are nothing but numbers because the study wasn’t based on a clinical trial, it was based on a mathematical model.

2) The model assumed 100 percent vaccination rates, which is 100 percent malarkey (the full course of three shots costs nearly $400 – prohibitively expensive for the thousands of women with no health insurance).

3) The FDA hasn’t approved Gardasil for women over the age of 26, largely because the vaccine provides no protection once women are exposed to HPV strains that cause cervical cancer. Once a woman becomes sexually active, all bets are off.

So this “crippling blow” that could cut cervical cancer rates in half is pure fantasy, but it’s reported with the optimism of a guaranteed sure thing.

Outside the safety zone

You can be sure that many parents read the Reuters Health report and decided their children should be vaccinated. And one of the reasons they might feel emboldened is because the article didn’t mention one word about the vaccine’s serious side effects.

When I sent you the e-Alert “Hide Your Daughters” (8/21/08), the FDA had received more than 9,700 adverse event reports for Gardasil. Among those reports, 580 include severe reactions such as seizures, convulsions, and death.

Meanwhile, in Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (their FDA) is investigating three cases of pancreatitis that appear to be linked to Gardasil injections. This is in addition to more than 1,000 Gardasil adverse reactions reported to the TGA.

The attention these cases received just might play a role in a “mystery” that’s occurring in South Australia. Health department officials there can’t fathom why the parents of nearly 16,000 young girls opted out of a program that offers the vaccine for free.

Of course, the health department party line is familiar: “Safe and effective!” But one Australian newspaper notes that in addition to a fear of side effects, many parents are concerned that young girls are getting the impression that unprotected sex is safe after receiving the vaccine.

Note to parents everywhere: That impression is real.

Sources:
“Aggressive Vaccine Effort could Cut Cervical Cancer” Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters Health, 10/27/08, reutershealth.com
“Cancer Jab Linked to Pancreas Disease (Gardasil)” Louise Hall, Sydney Morning Herald, 8/17/08, smh.com.au
“1 in 3 SA Girls Have Refused Cervical Cancer Vaccine” Lauren Novak, The Advertiser, 9/14/08, news.com.au