Rita - you are misinformed here and your points are not thought through. Yes it only works on four of 120 versions of
HPV - but only versions16 and 18 cause cervical cancer, and only 16 causes oral cancers. So the bottom line is who ares if it doesn't do anything for the many other versions that appear to have no negative impact on our bodies when we get them? You want a universally effective magic bullet? It does not exist in any medicine.
The web is full of misinformation and "urban myth". The science behind this is good. I could post a page and a half here about the research that went into this, but I will leave you with this one thought. The most important thing in the world of vaccines that was ever produced and saved hundreds of thousands, was the polio vaccine. Some people had adverse reactions to it, the actual results of the program (like any new product) wasn't known for a couple of decades as the clinical trial work and short term 5 year tests were positive enough to take it out to market.
HPV vaccines (and so many others that we have used for decades) are no different.
There are tons of people against vaccines in general, that wrongly think they cause autism and more. I lecture on these things almost every month, and I work with independent researchers, not just the doctors behind the development of this particular vaccine that understand and believe that this is the most import progress we have made in preventing the mandatory precursor event that will cause a cancer in their lifetimes. If those of you with questions are going to want absolutes in life, vaccines, or whatever, you will be sorely disappointed. We are all unique biological entities and nothing, even aspirin, works the same in all of us. The question is - will the overwhelming number of individuals benefit from it.....
As to the side effects for the rest of you who have worried about this, there can be some. But the question is are they a direct cause and event tie to the vaccine? The FDA does not think so. And the ones that do have a cause and effect, are not life changing. Further, are the number of adverse events and types well documented, by whom, and is it different that similar biological events occurring in the unvaccinated population? Then answer to that last question is, it is the same.
This is a personal choice thing. No one is forcing anyone to get vaccinated. And that is the way it should be. Where it will have profound impact is in third world countries where cervical cancer screenings and pap smears are just never done, and cervical cancer is a huge killer.
azcallin - I am fighting to not even reply to your post, but I can't help myself. Your numbers are not substantiated by the FDA, nor has any death been directly linked to the vaccine. If it had caused 18 deaths it would have been pulled by the FDA from the market if they could document it as the direct cause. This is just urban myth spreading, and you are part of the process that perpetuates it. Your medical news today post was from Feb of 2007, and there are now more than 18 million young girls vaccinated in the US and millions more in 41 other countries. What is the ratio of severe reactions in the vaccinated group to a group of equal age, gender etc. that was not? About the same. The fact that their study had 1200 hundred girls in it is irrelevant at this point in time, given the numbers that have been treated. Your steady health organization information, is from an unregulated, unmonitored, public forum where someone could post that they think the moon is made of green cheese. That isn't the basis of any usable facts and would appreciate it if you would not post links to public forums that are not monitored on this web site as ssources f usable facts. Lastly, the ABC TV story has a young girl, with no medical documentation or proof, stating that the vaccine made her sick. She knows this because of.....? Timing? Coincidence? Her medical experience and degree? The news story also includes this statement: "Experts at the FDA and CDC also continue to review data and, in July, said 'Gardasil continues to be safe and effective, and its benefits continue to outweigh its risks.'" I'm sure the girl got sick. But proof that the vaccine caused it? Doesn't exist. Could be though. She is a unique biological entity, and the vaccine and her genome might be a bad mix. But this is not evidence based information worth posting as fact. If we do not look at things based on evidence instead of opinion or heresay, you might as well belive that eating Big Macs is good for your heart.... I'm sure that if McDonald's has any bloggers out there talking about the burgers they love, there are some that have this viewpoint, and continue to stuff them in their faces and post that they are healthy on open forums.
The web is a free forum for people of all intelligence levels, knowledge, and agendas, to have their say. Readers!!! Be a critical thinker, or suffer the fate of not understanding or getting the right information.
The shot does not cost $1000.00 Even if it did, and it prevented you from getting cervical, oral, anal, penis, and perhaps other cancers that we are just now developing data from, I think you would find that cheap compared to hundreds of thousands of dollars for treatment, or of course DEATH.
