The lead reseracher for the new HPV vaccine, in an effort "to be able to sleep at night," has gone public, cautioning against mandating the vaccination for young girls. One can only imagine how much money the pharmaceutical companies stand to make from this little experiment on our daughters?
Larger news outlets no doubt have too much Big Pharma advertising revenue to run the story. This is from an Indiana daily:
LEBANON, N.H. — A lead researcher who spent 20 years developing the vaccine for humanpapilloma virus says the HPV vaccine is not for younger girls, and that it is "silly" for states to be mandating it for them.Not only that, she says it's not been tested for effectiveness in younger girls, and administering the vaccine to girls as young as 9 may not even protect them at all. And, in the worst-case scenario, instead of serving to reduce the numbers of cervical cancers within 25 years, such a vaccination crusade actually could cause the numbers to go up.
"Giving it to 11-year-olds is a great big public health experiment," said Diane M. Harper, who is a scientist, physician, professor and the director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire."It is silly to mandate vaccination of 11- to 12-year-old girls There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue."
Internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field, Harper has been studying HPV and a possible vaccine for several of the more than 100 strains of HPV for 20 years - most of her adult life.All of her trials have been with subjects ages 15 to 25. In her own practice, Harper believes the ideal way of administering the new vaccine is to offer it to women ages 18 and up. At the time of their first inoculation, they should be tested for the presence of HPV in their system.If the test comes back negative, then schedule the follow-up series of the three-part shots. But if it comes back positive?"Then we don't know squat, because medically we don't know how to respond to that," Harper said.
Harper is an independent researcher whose vaccine work is funded through Dartmouth in part by both Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline, which means she is an employee of the university, not the drug companies.
To read the full article, visit Kim Stagliano's blog:
http://kimstagliano.blogspot.com/
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19 comments:
Agghhhh! The manipulation of women with respect to their reproductive organs and cycles, will it ever cease? Thank you for this message.
Horrifying. So awful. And one of the worst parts is if the media really doesn't run with this--UGH.
My family doc never recommends a vaccine until it's been in use for 10 years. Let other doc's patients be the guinea piggies!
I can't imagine, given the controversy, that states would do more than recommend this vaccine. I doubt it will make it into law.
Kim,
The media has covered this, pretty extensively, AND our goal is to be balanced.
I can't imagine we'd inject mercury into babies and pregnant women, yet we do! (flu shot, Hep B).
Texas has already mandated the HPV vaccine and many other states are in the process of deciding.
If it is required for school, people will blindly follow their doctor's advice, oblivious to the possible long term negative effects on their children. No child should be a guniea pig.
The vaccine should be given in the way it was studied, to the population it was designed for.
BTW, I spent some time in the news business. Our job was to sell stories, balance wasn't really the main issue. Glad your employer is more ethical than mine was Edgy.
There is no balance in our nation's media when it comes to the vaccination/autism connection.
None.
Thanks for the info, Michelle. I have a 12 year old daughter. I wasn't too happy hearing about the HPV vaccine.
No wonder insurance costs are rising-with all the needless medical procedures such as HPV vaccines-you'd think that health insurance companies would find a way to cut costs by taking a stand against Mr. Pharm and Company. It's too bad that there's so much influence (campaign funding and lobbying) by Mr. Pharm and Co. with regards to politics and law-making.
Thanks for putting it out there, Michelle! I'm passing it on and putting my stamp of approval on it. God forbid we should teach our children about sexual issues upfront - let's just avoid talking about the topic and give 'em all a shot.
I've read other studies that agree with this researcher. And the commercials on TV are just down right scary- talk about manipulation.
Thanks for the info, Michelle.
Like others, I absolutely can not believe that states are going to legislate the guardianship of our daughter's bodies.
At 20, my daughter is old enough to decide for herself, but you better bet I'm putting in my two cents worth.
Again, thank you.
When will our society ever learn that to prevent the spread of such viruses and diseases we don't need a vaccine. We need to treat sex as the sacred gift it is and teach our sons and daughters as much...
The problem lies in that they don't know WHEN a booster is needed. So you vax your nine year old and when she's 17 or 19 having sex, she might THINK she's protected and not use a condom and then she gets HPV. Then she might get cervical cancer. The Vax is NOT a cancer vaccine any more than throwing away your cigarettes is considered a lung cancer vaccine. All cervical cancers stem from some strains of HPV, most women who have HPV do NOT get cervical cancer. 3000 women die per year of cervical cancer. You'll save more girls by teaching them to use a $3 condom than giving them a $1000 vaccine - that is the current cost.
balanced media?
I don't know. It seems that the doctors are really encouraging this too.
I struggled when the chicken pox vaccine came out (right when my first one was starting school) but I did as was said, and blindly followed the doctor's recommendation. To this day, I wonder if I did the right thing. I had a friend who was an adult when he got a very serious case of the chicken pox and had a high school friend who developed a serious case of Rye Syndrome from chicken pox. I pray that the vaccine protects them through their life and doesn't leave them vulnerable as adults. When I saw the ads for the HPV vaccine, I wondered the same thing. Having just lost our elderly neighbor to cervical cancer, I know it's a serious disease, but my goodness, if only 3000 women die each year, the odds are so small in comparison to other things.
Thanks for the great information.
interesting entry ~ I wouldnt give it to a TWEEN ~ YIKES!!!!
Actually they are finding that kids who get the chicken pox vaccine (both mine did) are more likely to develop shingles as adults, which is much more debilitating than a childhood case of chicken pox.
If only the joke was just on us parents.
Unfortunately, it will be on the kids.
i understand the cause for concern and we should all do our own research when things like this become available, but the importance of this vaccine should not be undermined. **this is our opportunity to literally eliminate cervical cancer.** i have done some work for the company that developed the vaccine here in new york, so i am familiar with their side of the story. however, i also have a friend who contracted HPV from a boyfriend (men are only carriers, they have no symptoms, which is why it is up to us to protect ourselves) and basically every couple years has to go in and have pre-cancerous cells removed from her cervix, each time diminishing her ability to conceive once she decides to have children. pharma companies are making great stides to protect us, not only with vaccines like this but also with tests that can detect HPV with near 100% effectiveness. so, as i said, it's importance - very important - to make sure we have all the information before we act, but please, let's keep an open mind. it's very possible that this could be a major victory for women and girl.
Amanda,
Again, "the vaccine should be given in the way it was studied, to the population it was designed for."
Anything else is a public health experiment, with drug companies reaping the rewards.
Sadly, Big Pharma is NOT about protecting people, they are about making money.
If it WERE about protecting people, they would listen to the researcher that has been working on this for over twenty years...(the authority in the field), not using their political clout to coerce government officials to mandate this STD vaccine to children.
i agree that this is something that needs to be watched, and i don't know if it should be given to younger girl but the researcher is funded by the drug company...so i don't see how you can say that they aren't promoting the development of drugs that will help people...
The research is funded by the drug company. That's exactly it.
And the drug company stands to make a ton of money on the vaccine. So the research is often skewed.
And even if it isn't, they'll just ignore the advice of the top researcher and forge ahead anyway.
And the fox watches over the hen
house.
And that's not safe.
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