Big Pharma making people think these actually work is the real crime.

Line up, get yours shots Sheeple....

There are healthy alternatives to these shots that won't kill you and actually work. Google it.

Remember, the company who preaches to you about how you need meds are the same people who are vigorously trying to find a cure... lmao

Mr Bill Gates said it best.....

Stating that the global population was heading towards 9 billion, Bill Gates said, “If we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 per cent.”

Wow, sign my up..... NOT

I am sure there are 1000 reasons people will come up with not to get this vaccination. Most will probably be wrong. But this vaccination should be a choice. Don't want the vaccination then don't get it.

Thank you for pointing out that HPV is one of the major causes of oral cancers in men. This fact has come to light in recent years after oral cancer incidence declined because of a decrease in smoking and then started increasing again. This type of squamous cell carcinioma presents as an enlarged lymph node in the neck, with the primary tumor usually at the base of the tongue or in a tonsil. Oral SCC's that are HPV positive have a much higher cure rate than other oral cancers but the treatment is hell. My husband just went through it, so trust me; you want to avoid it. While multiple factors have to line up to allow cancer cells to organize and take over, I wish we had known about the dangers of HPV in all men and that the vaccine had been available to both of us before we became sexually active.

Soon enough, income tax returns will require proof of vaccinations or a tax penalty will be required.

Big government wants to control what's in your wallets and in your pants, and for this we can thank American liberalism.

Considering that thish virus has already been shown to increase the risk of several different cancers, it seems likely that it might also increase the risk of skin cancers, and cancers of the penis and scrotum, even for those who will never indulge in oral or anal sex. That's a very good reason for universal vaccination. Another is that it would inhibit the spread to their future lovers, regardless of gender, thus reducing the risk of cancer in someone they will love.

Big Pharma making people think these actually work is the real crime.
Line up, get yours shots Sheeple....
There are healthy alternatives to these shots that won't kill you and actually work. Google it.

You're spreading dangerous nonsense, Patrick. Not everything you can "Google" is true, Google doesn't do fact checking, and can find nonsense just as easily as it finds facts. Vaccines DO work. Thanks to vaccines, we no longer have to worry about Smallpox, and dreadful diseases like Polio, Mumps, Rubella, Whooping Cough, Tetanus, and Diptheria are now extremely rare. The potential of driving out yet another infectious disease is something to be celebrated and cheered, not discouraged.

It is a vaccine that targets a virus that causes cancers, shouldn't everyone get it. The whole is protected when everyone is protected. Sure your risk of getting measles is small, but that is because everyone else has been vaccinated for it. If everyone started thinking their risk of measles was small, so they did not get vaccinated, then we would start seeing more cases of measles. Which is exactly what is happening.

The article says that the vaccine covers 70% of the strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer. And that HPV can cause throat cancer. I wonder if it covers the strains that cause throat cancer?

The inevitable conclusion will be that everyone needs this shot - along with 50 other ones. Next year it will be 52. And the year after that it will be 55.

Soon you will have a hypodermic sitting next to your breakfast plate, filled with the latest "must have" concoction of 100+ vaccines - you see these things mutate - so you will need daily updates.

BFD will deliver it to you - that's Big Farma Delivery - yeah I know it's spelled 'pharma' but BFD sounds better - and they will set you up with easy monthly payments to keep you and your family safe.

it seems likely that it might also increase the risk of skin cancers, and cancers of the penis and scrotum, even for those who will never indulge in oral or anal sex. That's a very good reason for universal vaccination.

You're spreading dangerous nonsense, Patrick. Not everything you can "Google" is true, Google doesn't do fact checking, and can find nonsense just as easily as it finds facts.

Who is spreading the dangerous rumor there CM? You sound like you would buy a vaccine for sneezing if Big Pharma told you it will lower your chances of sneezing-induced-brain-cancer.

Handgunner,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to be the conservatives who concern themselves with what consenting adults do with each other in the privacy of their own bedrooms. It's the conservatives, after all, who take so much issue with the idea of giving gays equal rights, basing their entire opposition to such equality on their displeasure with what gays do in the privacy of their bedrooms.

So, tell me again why you think it's liberals who are so concerned with what people do in their "pants," 'cause I'm at a loss as to what it might be.

Well "history", I base my decisions on facts and science, not rumours and wild speculations. Ironically, you seem to ignore medical history, as you appear to be totally ignorant of the diseases I have mentioned, as well as the reason why they are now so extremely rare.

There has never been any studies showing "sneeze induced brain cancer", so your exampl is just plain silly and made up, like the anti-vaccination hysteria.

What about other Big Business, like "Big Food", "Big Auto", "Big Construction", "Big Telecom", "Big Entertainment", "Big Computer", or "Big Retail"? Why should I be any more afraid of "big pharma" than any other "big" business? If any of their products turn out to be ineffective, or worse, causes more problems than it solves, they'd loose market share and maybe even go out of business. That applies to all businesses, big or little.

I base my decisions on facts and science, not rumours and wild speculations

Please explain the following then:

it seems likely that it might also increase the risk of skin cancers, and cancers of the penis and scrotum, even for those who will never indulge in oral or anal sex. That's a very good reason for universal vaccination.

Why should you be more afraid of Big Pharma??? Are you serious? How many other Big Businesses are marketing products so dangerous that the commercials have to also remind you that this medication may cause nausea, vomitting, hair loss, erectile dysfunction, cancer in children, persistent rash, loss of taste and smell, anal leakage, blindness, and in rare instances death.

If any of their products turn out to be ineffective, or worse, causes more problems than it solves, they'd loose market share and maybe even go out of business.

Clearly one of two things is going on here ... either you are completely ignorant of how the pharmaceutical world works, or you work for Big Pharma and are posting comments to deliberately cast doubt and lead the flock into your arms.

I think that the reason that some people resist this vaccination for their daughters and now their sons is because they can't seperate the behavior from the disease. If the same disease were transmitted by petting lovable puppies or kittens, we wouldn't be talking about whether to vaccinate or not. Just as people wouldn't stop petting their cute furry pets, they won't stop having unprotected gay or straight sex. Why not be safe?

"The flock" is far healthier today than it was a century ago thanks to vaccines. Those people who see a conspiracy in everything might want to consider that many of the medical personnel who fuel the anti-vaccine engine make $$ from insurance companies, so if you want to jump on a conspiracy theory, how about the one that says insurance companies don't want to pay for more mandatory vaccines. Personally, I'll follow the logic ... fewer people are dying from preventable diseases since the advent of vaccines. If you choose not to vaccinate yourself for preventable diseases, that's your right, but stay the H@** away from me and my loved ones with your contagions!!!

Is there something wrong with this vaccine that they feel the need to just target the gay men and boys. Sounds like a poison vaccines they are creating to inject the gay population with.

Why single out just the gay males, and why not all males, schit, why not make it available to "all people".

Something not right about this article that wants to inject only gay men and boys.

Who knows what poisonous injection is going to be given to you.

While I am a fan of vaccines in general, we learned in biology that there are several dozen strains of HPV, many of which are not sexually transmitted, and this vaccine only protects against a few of the ones that are sexually transmitted. I don't know the details about HPV causing oral/throat cancer, but it is highly probable that those cancers are caused by an entirely different strain that they have not yet developed a vaccine for. Seeing as how the shots are so expensive, I would ask a doctor about that first if I were you. They don't give the shot to girls over 26, so it's a moot point for me!

Debbie, "Why not be safe?"

Two words (and one link):

Gardisil girls.

http://truthaboutgardasil.org/

Are heterosexual women who enjoy anal sex with their male partners also at higher risk for anal cancer? Seems like a sensitive subject that this article avoids....

god the idiots that wants us to go back to nature just make me howl. on one hand we have diseases like polio, smallpox, or influenza (that have destroyed or taken billions of lives over the years) on the other hand you have vacination which aside from a very small percentage of side effects saves lives and they choose no vaccine because they want the earth less crowded with people (if they all choked on their granola that would help with the crowding)

James,

There is a lot of evidence that both Herpes and HPV that are found in "strange" locations, such as anal, throat, and mouth are often self-infected. The virus is transferred to the hands by masturbation or by "personal hygiene" and they by the hands to the anus, mouth, eyes, or even the inside of the mouth/throat. And there is an increasing body of evidence that many people, both male and female, can be "silent carriers" of both and HIV as well. These carriers do not actually contract the disease or only contract it in a mild, asymptomatic form, but pass it on to others without even knowing that they have it.

Trying to embed sexuality too deeply in this argument simply does not work. There is plenty of evidence that certain activities act to spread diseases, but for the most part those activities are no respecters of gender identity or sexual orientation.

The real problem is that ALL vaccinations have a risk of side effects. This is because vaccinations are trying to provoke a specific response from a person's immune system. The issue is that not everyone's immune system works as it is supposed to and there are complexities within complexities in the immune system that are not yet very well understood. The whole thing is a gamble --- a few cases of side effects traded for a dramatic reduction in cervical cancer, AIDS, etc.

You can "what if" vaccinations to death. But vaccinations have been around since the 1700's and are pretty much old hat by now. I have watched these arguments swarm around the polio vaccines and various childhood vaccinations and have never seen any credible evidence other than it is a hugely lop-sided trade-off of a small individual risk for a massive public health benefit.

When parents who don't want to get their children vaccinated are studied, a very different picture emerges. Many are "afraid of shots and needles", it is inconvenient or too expensive or insurance doesn't cover it, etc. But almost never are side-effects a reason that emerges as a serious reason.

To spiritdance and coreuser - this isn't polio we're talking about. Millions of lives are not at risk here. Here are some numbers for you straight from the article: 1.6 people in 100,000 develop "anal cancer" and far fewer die from it. Who the hell has even heard of "anal cancer" anyways? Here's another number for you: there are at least 100 strains of HPV known, and this vaccine targets a very small percentage of them. And now for the most important numbers in the article: last years sale of the vaccine were $111 million, this years sales were $74 million ... that represents a net loss of $37 million + in expected sales. Gee, how do you make up for such a loss? Hmmm ... market it to another segment of society. How pathetic and assinine that the next target is "gay boys".

Spiritdance - not everyone who doesn't fall in with the flock sees a conspiracy in "everything". But to think that conspiracies don't exist is just as preposterous. If you want to waste your money and possibly your health on a worthless vaccine, that's your problem. However, when you fall into Big Pharma's grip on "a pill for everything that ails you", you are contributing to a global problem. These unneccesary drugs are not only being consumed by the ones who they are prescribed to, they are also being consumed by countless kids raiding medicine cabinets and overdosing, and being flushed into toilets and passed through treatment plants right back into the water that the rest of us are drinking.

Future History,

HPV DNA has been found in some squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) skin cancers developing in both sun-exposed and non-sun-exposed areas of the body. This is a bigger problem for those immunosuppressed by organ transplants or AIDS, but has even been reported in people with completely normal immune function.

So CM is not really that far off when he wonders if this vaccine will decrease the rates of skin cancers. I have been wondering the same thing for years, and anxiously await the data on both mucosal (cervix, anus, throat, etc) SCC rates and skin SCC rates in vaccinated vs. non-vaccinated individuals, even though the exact strains may differ.

How many of you who are against these vaccines are men?

How many are women who have never had issues with HPV/dysplasia?

I'm 26years old. I was diagnosed with HPV when I was 20 years old (I had only been with one partner), before the vaccine was released. My mom had similar medical problems when she was 30 and had to have a hysterectomy, and as a result has be adamant to prevent me from having to go through the same thing. Now I have a cancer biopsy yearly, pap smears every 6 months, and this past spring I had to have layers of cells removed from my cervix. It resulted in me taking a year off from my MA degree program, and I may not be able to have children, let alone the risk that next time (by the way, my last screening 2 months ago showed I still have it, have to go back in a few months) it might make it to full blown cancer.

All I have to say to you is F&@Kyou! You have no idea how scary this is! Those who think the vaccine kills you, there are FAR more YOUNG women who die of cervical cancer every year than have died since the vaccine was released. If I'm able to have children, whether they are male or female they will have this vaccine, and any other that may one day save their lives. They will be given the chance to avoid this, the chance myself, and so many other young women haven't been given.

Because this is a new immunization, the length of immunity is unknown. At this point, it only lasts 4 years. Why would I give this to my child to last only 4 years? It is recommended in girls as young as 9. I will wait until this has been out a while and there is more research on the actual vaccination, long term.

tux - I'm sure Big Pharma is very content with the 4 year immunity (and possibly engineered it that way.) Recurring dividends make good business sense. The trick is to scare you into the investment as early as possible.

Tux is taking the position I would too if my kids were still at home. BTW, I am interested at the basic premise of this vaccine's statement of fact. When Farrah Fawcett ( age 60 ) was dying of anal cancer, as a retired nurse, I was interested in what all was involved, most esp. its' prevalence. What I found was that MOST cases of it occur in women of her age! Shocked me, for sure, esp. since I've worked in performing colostomies!

Personally, while I'm a great believer in vaccines, I smell a rat. I'd like to see the "science" surrounding this & what, if any, serious indications exist that the prevelance is so great in men. Believe me, straight men practice anal sex too!

My husband & I took the Shingles Vac. when it came out a few yrs. ago costing us @ $300 out-of-pocket, but anyone who knows anyone who has had shingles wouldn't bat an eye. This vaccine will only be good for those who are above a certain age-over 35 @ the time when the Chicken Pox Vaccine came out, so they are obviously looking to get as much $ out of it as they can. ( Note: Those who have NOT had Chicken Pox can not get Shingles. It's a dormant remnant of the virus that can be reawakened anytime; my 103 yr. old mother had a mild case.)

So, even though we knew our oldest was gay @ age 12, I wouldn't of given him this series of shots.

Ya better listen, Jerry Fartsmell toad me I caught hiv cause i'm a deviate homersexshural. Would that man LIE! Eating anything between somebody elses legs will kill ya. conservative only do it in the men's room or some sleazy motel room. I love the gay pubes that are such hypocrites. Condemning their own kind to hide from their fellow pubes. HAHA

Hah, yeah, and don't let your kids play on a playground unless you know every child there is free of colds, flu, and other contagious illness. Yeeeaaahh right. We all know how well abstinence teaching works in this country. Teenagers are going to have sex. I agree with this article that this vaccine could help prevent cancers in some men down the road. I don't see a problem with it at all- and as a bonus, the vaccinated men won't be inadvertently passing HPV to their wives and girlfriends also. Because most people have no idea if they have HPV-- it can be asymptomatic.

50% of the US population is HPV+. About 5% show warts at some time, often subclinical so no way to "make sure they are clean" Ignorant is ignorant does.

freempg,

It looks to me like Big Pharma is just looking for yet another way to rake in big money! You'll notice that the big pharmaceutical companies are the ones recommending it at $100 per shot, while many others are skeptical of the whole idea.

Oh, freempg, you're such a poet!! Sing to me!

How about keeping your dick in your pants and your face out of a girl's snatch unless you know she's (and she knows you're) clean?

Why not simply shut down sexuality altogether, and just rely on artificial insemination only, so we can completely do away with that dangerous icky sex stuff?

Anyone with a real understanding of human nature knows the answer to that one. Some things are worth the risk, but if we can reduce or eliminate that risk, so much the better for us.

You're not a bad poet yourself, Mickey. Interested in a man from Nantucket?

Eric, I agree. Preventing warts, oral cancer, cervical cancer, anal cancer ... It sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Eleanor said: "Teenagers are going to have sex."

Even if you have to 'target gay boys' to plant that idea in their heads, huh, Eleanor? You see, the United States used to be relatively free of bastard children running amok, that is until people started saying "Teenagers are going to have sex," over and over and over again in every news/entertainment medium ad naseum. The power of suggestion is immense.

Illegitimate births were once in the single digits in this country. Now the illegitimate birth rates are sky high. Children birthing children, raised with inadequate supervision. It's great! Hey libs, no matter how much money you pour into the education system, you can't teach bastard children with inadequate parental guidance anything! Go back to sleep.

freempg,

Thanks for the compliment! I think I've heard the one about the man from Nantucket, but I can't understand why they deleted your post.

Hi Mickey:

I think the moderator did not appreciate my irreverent riff on the TSA, and it was off topic, I must admit. Can't blame 'em, it's their site. And my original post was collapsed by the community although it remains the second highest ranked comment. Not sure how that happens either. In any event, I hope it brought a smile to your face.

Best,

Free

PS: Although I may hail from Nantucket, mine is so small you can't pluck it.

freempg,

It did bring a smile to my face. The reasons for deleting and collapsing comments are just part of the inscrutable ways of the Vine, I guess.

J. Hill-1376776 acknowledged illegitimacy was once in the single digits (but you still had girls "going to stay with family" for nine months who's kids would never have their existence confirmed), you also had the belief that if you experiments produced results than it was time to do the "right" thing, now days you have the growing modern trend of couples to just shack up (marriage in all but name) with the idea that going through formalities is less important than the day to day of being there

freempg, I am sure that is already being engineered into standard vaccinations. it probably the mercury, only the good lord knows what the purpose of injecting mercury into little children would be. I am sure it can't be a good thing! there must be an agenda.

ecto, Gardasil does not contain mercury.

Many older vaccines contained thimerosal, which acted as a preservative to keep infectious bacteria and fungi from growing in the vaccine solution. It was not there as part of some nefarious plot to poison people, despite what the tinfoil-hat crowd may have told you.

But most modern vaccines do not contain mercury/thimerosal. It has not been part of most childhood vaccines since 1999, and most adult vaccines since 2001.

"Targeted" doesn't sound so good either.

Research the vaccine history. This vaccine is a dangerous vaccine. Look up Guardasil Girls. Right now, the risk of getting the vaccine is more dangerous than the disease it's supposed to be preventing. Until it becomes safer, I will not allow my children to be injected with it.

RD, where are you getting your information? If you are so sure of it, provide it.

Less women have died or been badly effected by gaurdasil than die yearly from cervical cancer.

Have you ever been told that you might have cancer? I have, cervical cancer. Now I have yearly biopsies, pap smears every six months, and last spring had to have layers cells removed from my cervix (it escalated from a clear screen in September to immediately requiring the cell removal by April), as a result I had to put of my MA (in a foreign institution) for a year. I don't know if I'll be able to have kids, my mom went through similar problems and had to have a hysterectomy at the age of 32, I'm 26 years old. I'm getting married in a few months and just want to start a normal family. Do you want your daughters to go through this? I don't wish this fear on anyone.

hello, haven't you ever heard of big pharm? anyway i don't vaccinate, plain and simple. no controversy. herd immunity? what's that? vaccination injury hotline? what's that? a little humor i suppose. but to answer your question of 'does it matter whether the person receiving the shot is....' why pay for something that you don't need, or even worse, may harm you? as i said, imo myself and my children are better off without vaccination. no controversy here.

Rev, Styro and his ilk are paid pharma shills.. just walk out and ask real people... they'd laugh at the stupidity of this article.. I mean this is such a leap that even the CDC is bound to give up and burst out laughing how ridiculous this is..

Herd immunity is the result of responsible people getting vaccinated for the good of all of society, to protect not just themselves but to protect the infants who are too young for vaccines, the children with cancer or other diseases threatening their immune systems who cannot be vaccinated, etc. and who are at a much higher risk for complications and death if they do contract some of these illnesses from children and adults who did not want to get vaccinated. If no one got vaccinated anymore, there wouldn't be nearly as much herd immunity (especially since no young people have had these horrible diseases.... thanks to vaccines!) I understand that many people have certain moral, religious, etc. beliefs against vaccines, and that is one thing, but to claim that you don't need vaccines because of the herd immunity that others provide you sounds kind of selfish to me.

Sorry for getting a little off topic there.

i'm assuming you may be a medically brainwashed nurse. don't worry, i still love you, but i've had my share of know it all advice from my brother in law -- Mr. RN. and there are MANY MANY reasons i don't vaccinate. the herd immunity/irresponsibility argument against people who have taken the time to research and carefully make a decision to not vaccinate is such a farce. i mean c'mon. what difference does it make to you if i don't vaccinate? assuming you do vaccinate, you are protected. god made our immune systems fully capable of handling germ invaders. yes, sometimes people die b/c of disease. but we are are going to someday, sooner or later, whether we have been vaccinated or not.

Well it wouldn't make much of a difference to me, but it would probably make a difference to my infant nephew if, for example, you coughed in his direction and he ended up with pertussis. I'm not medically brainwashed, I don't think that believing in the merits of vaccines means I'm brainwashed, because there are a lot of merits to vaccines. I also know that there are some risks, but many RCTs have shown the risks to be incredibly small when compared to the benefits.

Hey, I thought Big Pharma, the FDA and the CDC were interested in our safety, not money and kickbacks! Of course I also thought that OJ was innocent and that there were WMD in Iraq.

Most cases of pertussis are passed from older family members who have waning or immunity. Herd immunity in this case just isn't there.

Eleanor, your ignorance on this topic is laughable. Research "herd immunity! The term was actually given to people who developed NATURAL immunity by getting the disease and recovering from it. Big pharma STOLE the term and applied it o vaccines. Vaccines do not work and had absolutely nothing to do with eradicating disease. Do a little research and you will find all the info you need. Vaccines are simply a get rich plan created by big pharma! Unvaccinated children are healthier (less cases of asthma, allergies, ear infections, etc.) than vaccinated children. Both of my children were vaccinated for pertussis, both of my children GOT pertussis!!

As far as HPV vaccines are concerned......this vaccine is KILLING and injuring children. And for what? HPV can easily be detected through annual paps. Our own immune systems are capable of ridding the body of HPV. Cervical cancer is the SLOWEST growing cancer. Getting regular paps and using condoms is the BEST protection against HPV!

You are concerned about the threatening of children's immune systems.....what do you think vaccines do? Do some research on the subject instead of just following the herd and what doctors (and big pharma) are telling you!

Incredible small risks??!!!! Really????!!! Is DEATH a small risk? Talk to a parent whose child died or was forever injured by a vaccine and then ask them what they think about the small risks of vaccines!

STOP POISONING OUR CHILDREN!!!

I agree! Why so much controversy? Part of the rapid growth of any disease is the belagered time it takes to get the FDA approval for use. Add to this such other extenuating issues such as Gay, HIV+, Bisexual, Transgendered, Prostitutes, Oral sex, Anal sex, etc. . .etc! American society is so repressed to discuss matters involving sex, is it any wonder why the HIV diagnosis has grown and continues to grow. It is high time people realize that sex education is just like learning to talk. If there is no instruction, likely there will be little if anything ever said. In terms of sex education, people need to realize the importance of that whole education. The proper procedures for all orientations. What TO DO and what NOT TO DO can help our youth and adults make informed decisions about their sexual activity. The education would likely reduce the number of teen suicides as it will help with sexual identification and orientation. The old premise of, "If we don't talk about it or recognize it, then it will not/does not exist" needs to be canned once and for all. Especially if our future generations are to be truly responsible in their expression of and practice of their particular sexual orientation. Knowledge is power only if it is imparted and then put to use! Kept knowledge becomes toxic and quickly contaminates those knowledgable minds. Yes to the vaccinations! Yes to anything that will improve quality of life! I am a long term survivor of HIV/AIDS- 30+ years and happily counting! What I would give had I been educated about sex rather than learning it on the streets and the shadows of the gay world. I don't suggest it would have prevented my infection, but it would have given me a basis of information to use regarding my sexual behavior. So please, let's protect our youth and future generations. Would'nt it be great if there was a vaccine to protect from ignorance?

"vaccines do not work and had nothing to do with eradicating disease"

Haha, but I'm the one whose ignorance on this topic is laughable. Where did smallpox go then, did it just get bored of infecting humans and leave us alone voluntarily?

Eleanor-1756241

don't forget , polio which was nearly extinct in north america until the vaccination program was discontinued.

and to the ones using the herd immunity argument-

herd immunity requires that the percentage of population with immunity be high enough to effectively lock infected members away from the herd members without immunity until the infection have run there course (the long span of infection is why malaria HIV and hepatitis are not effectually controlled by method)

all a vaccine does is give a "blueprint" of the virus to your immune system so it can be more effective fighting against the virus, the controversy and most of the side effects come from the compounds needed to preserve the "blueprint"

"Do a little research and you will find all the info you need.

Reading pamphlets from the health food store, or browsing a bunch of pseudo-scientific anti-vaccination echo chamber websites, does not constitute research.

The amount of misinformation in your post is astounding!

Research "herd immunity! The term was actually given to people who developed NATURAL immunity by getting the disease and recovering from it. Big pharma STOLE the term and applied it o vaccines.

Completely false. Herd immunity can result from both natural infections and vaccine-induced immunity. Start here and read the rest of the slides for a good explanation of the concept.

HPV can easily be detected through annual paps.

HPV testing from Pap specimens was not available until after liquid cytology transport media became common in the mid 1990s. The old glass slide Pap did not involve HPV testing.

And even today, despite the liquid media for collecting specimens, HPV testing is not always part of the test unless abnormalities are found and/or your doctor has specifically requested such testing is done. However, a "reflex" test can be ordered at some labs, meaning if the lab finds dysplasia/atypia of the cells, they will run the HPV DNA test to try to determine which strain of HPV is present.

That last part is really important: the Pap looks for dysplasia/atypia, i.e. by the time a problem shows up on a Pap, the damage to the cells has already been done, and pre-cancerous or cancerous changes may already be present.

So if you are assuming negative yearly Paps mean you cannot have HPV, think again. The virus can be dormant for decades in some people, causing no visible lesions, but damaging the human cellular DNA all the same.

Yes, early diagnosis of dysplasia can allow early treatment and prevention of cancer, and early diagnosis of cancer can allow prompt surgical intervention that saves lives, but the HPV-induced changes are found by Pap tests after the horse is already out of the barn.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Detection/Pap-test

Cervical cancer is the SLOWEST growing cancer.

Not always.

Let's say you were diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma (BCC) on your nose the same day you were diagnosed with cervical cancer. Your OB/GYN, dermatologist, and family doctor would tell you to expedite treatment of the cervical cancer, and take care of the BCC after all of the cervical procedures were finished, because the doubling time for BCC is longer than for cervical cancer.

Incredible small risks??!!!! Really????!!! Is DEATH a small risk?

We are not talking about one individual, but the risk over an entire population.

Sure, for the kid who dies from an adverse reaction, the risk seems to be 100%. But when you look at the total number of vaccinated individuals, the rate of such complications is extremely low.

It is tragic when someone dies, and no one is downplaying how serious the outcome was for that one kid. But there is a small risk of dying in a car crash whenever you leave your home, and a small risk of being hit by lightning in your own backyard. The actual car crash, lightning strike, or death are really bad things for the specific person who experiences them, but the vast majority of people who drive cars, hang out in the backyard, or get vaccines have no such tragedies befall them.

Feel free to not vaccinate your kids if you feel that is what is best for them. But your arguments would be more convincing if they used actual scientific data and showed a true understanding of epidemiology.

Took,

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!!

I know first hand how HPV can negatively affect your life. And it isn't slow. In September of 2009, I had my first clear pap smear, not sign of dysplasia, by April I had to have a biopsy, and two day's later layers of pre-cancerous cells removed from my cervix. Last month I had my follow up screening, and guess what, mild - moderate dysplasia. I'm already have signs of why I went back to the doctor immediately in April. I'm scared to death. I'm 26 years old, getting married in a few months, my only worries should be wedding bills, not if next time it I won't be so lucky and the abnormal cells won't be pre-cancerous. I should be planning when I'm going to start to try to get pregnant, not worrying about if I'm even going to be able to get pregnant.

I hate ignorance, and I hate parents who view one death more important than the thousands of young women who die every year to cervical cancer.

I personally say let the uneducated be. The gene pool could use a little chlorine, and idiots like Future History and MamaLuna not getting their shots might be just what we need as a species. Natural selection, works wonders.

On a completely unrelated note...

Research "herd immunity! The term...

WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR RIGHT QUOTATION MARK?! God, that is going to bother me ALL @!$%#ING DAY!

it rather peculiar to watch this play out like it has,...the core behavior is "having irresponsible sex",...as a society and individually, we are forever devising ways to circumvent the consequences of poor choices....when you have irresponsible sex you can get,...HIV, HPV, HepB,C anal abscesses/anal fissures, syphilis, gonorrhea, etc etc...and to boot drug resistant strains of all these, in addition to unintended pregnancies....when are they going to make a vaccine for stupid?

ok so some rare cases of HPV are not transmitted sexually....but i bet those numbers are rather small....the vast majority are transmitted because people are idiots...plain and simple....being a gay man i cant tell you how many gay men i know who are sitting at home collecting disability for their HIV,(and have contracted every STD possible)...getting free meds from the state, all the while spending their disability checks on methamphetamine, instead of food,..while sitting at their computers lurking on gay.com for their next big bareback sexual expierence....what a ridiculous and sad life they live....of course they want to target "gay boys" for this vaccine....because most cant control themselves or have enough sense to know that you cant screw everything in town and expect not to get some disease....prevention does not have to include a drug....it starts with a little self respect....which is far cheaper than the cost of a 100$ vaccine.

Granted, in theory, if all women were vaccinated, hetero men could not get the virus, but be realistic.

Tbone - what a chauvinist statement. Perhaps you should take responsibility for your own behavior rather than expecting that responsibility to fall on your female partner. Women should not have to be vaccinated merely to protect men from an STD.

I don't think that is what he was tring to say. I think he was saying that it is not realistic to only rely on one sex to get the vaccination. All people should have the choice.

Seriously, currently girls and women are being vaccinated, instead of the source - males. While epidemiologists admit it would be expensive to inoculate boys and men (not to mention annoying to hear all the whining), it will be cheaper long term, as the virus would be brought under control, if not eradicated, and cancers reduced, to boot.

On a lighter note, I have to say that a relational database would seem to indicate that, again, lesbians are looking to be the safest and healthiest sexual partners ... with any male-related the worst (you can't go by heterosexual vs. homosexual, because so many 'straight' men worldwide lie about having sex with other men). Let's hear it for the ladies. A sliver of a minority not burdening our stressed health care system in perpetuity with risky, careless and thoughtless behaviors.

No, not chauvinist, factual If all women were immune to HPV, hetero men would not contract HPV. If I left that statement out, the first reply would be something about only vaccinate girls so heteros are safe, but not boys, so the gay ones get anal warts as their punishment from God. Is it chauvinist to state boys are stronger than girls?

My only point was if a vaccine for HPV is effective and available to people, sex or sexually orientation should make no difference.

PS, God loves me and I have Sex and I am not married :-)

Actually, Psalm 5:4-6 says:

For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, LORD, detest.

Alright well then leave it to God to judge him later, why do you care? Unless you don't actually believe that there is a God to judge him later, so you want to make sure he is good and judged by you, now, on earth.

I don't judge anyone. That's God's job. But, He uses Scripture to do it. Those aren't my words, they're His. Don't shoot the messenger.

No, not chauvinist, factual If all women were immune to HPV, hetero men would not contract HPV. If I left that statement out, the first reply would be something about only vaccinate girls so heteros are safe, but not boys, so the gay ones get anal warts as their punishment from God. Is it chauvinist to state boys are stronger than girls?

How about the reverse - if all men were vaccinated and immune to the virus, no women would contract the disease - except that this virus can be transmtted by non-sexual means, it isn't strictly a "STD". Better to develop widespread immunity, with both genders involved.

I need to be a better communicator. My point is that BOTH SEXES should be vaccinated IF THEY WANT. If you keep your head in the sand thinking my kid is not having sex, it is your choice, no vaccine. Realistic, rational parents can vaccinate and have peace of mind that they are doing what the can to protect their kids. A well known pundit has a kid that dances with the stars and definitely had premarital sex as a teen, even with a strong religious up bringing. I doubt the baby's daddy was monogamous or practiced safe sex.

littlechanges wrote "Seriously, currently girls and women are being vaccinated, instead of the source - males. "

So, what is the source for the infected boys? Surprise, girls.

For boys and men, the warts are external and usually visible. There is probably no way short of a Pap smear or gynecological exam for a girl or woman to know she is infected.

Also, condoms protect women from male fluids and only slightly protect men from female fluids.

i was curious about how far i would have to read before someone injected a bible quote . this has nothing to do with religion . its a health issue.

I don't judge anyone. That's God's job. But, He uses Scripture to do it. Those aren't my words, they're His. Don't shoot the messenger.

Oh, I'll shoot the messenger if he's trying to tell me that I'm going to burn in hell. Seriously, you know that feeling of absolute rage you get when some black guy drives by your house reeeaaal slow like, and he's got one of those sound systems that's louder outside the car than inside, at four in the morning? That's what i feel when people start quoting scripture at me. Now, it could be argued that that's a result of demonic possession or some retarded crap like that. However, I believe it's actually because I'm trying to sleep and your music is too damn loud (metaphorically speaking).

Because no one wants it. $300 and 3 doctors visits to lessen an already slim chance of getting a couple varieties of cancer. And you can also greatly reduce that risk quite effectively through your behavior. Go figure why all the propaganda trying to push this.

Read up on HPV before you start mouthing off about abstinence krowdy, because you obviously know nothing about it.

Well, you don't have to be data analyst to realize that it's pretty hard to transmit a sexually transmitted disease without having sexual activity.

True, but our species has to have sex in order to not die out. And being married to someone doesn't magically make them free of HPV either.

It does if they haven't had sex with anyone prior to being married.

It's so simple... Just stop having promiscuous sex... why, in the history of the world, hasn't anyone thought of this before?

I think we all can agree that it's no simple thing to get the entire population to stop having promiscuous sex. It's not even possible. It's not even an option. So, the sooner you can we can get our head around that, the sooner we can work on real solutions to real problems.

So... if you can't get people to stop having sex, At least you can make sex safer. Not 100% safe, but safer. That's what this vaccine does. Bravo! I can't understand what kind of person would have a problem with that.

Exactly. By all means, pass your moral values on to your children if they include not having sex before marriage. But you can't pass your morals on to every teenager in America, and you can't control if your child grows up and marries someone who did have sex with other people before marriage. So, even if your child remains a virgin until age 25 when she gets married, if her husband had even one other sexual partner before her... she is just as at risk. And why would you want to put your daughter at risk like that, at risk for getting cervical or anal cancer and dying in her 30's? Even if your child abstains, you can't control the rest of the world unfortunately. (And there is a pretty good chance you won't be able to control your daughter, either, once she gets out there on her own. )

I appreciate your attempts to solve this problems. But the bottom line is, this is just a band-aid. You need preventive maintenance to eliminate the problem in the first place. Preventive maintenance = abstinence. This value needs to be upheld and promoted in society iin order to be accepted by future generations. When you just come up with band-aids to cover the wounds, you actually end up encouraging the reckless behavior by trying to lessen the consequences.

Any Oral sex can spread HVP , doesn't matter if you are gay or straight, young or old. Protect your daughters and sons and get them all vaccinated. Reports show that the rates of oral and throat cancers are rising and HVP is one of the major causes.

Why not just rely on "artificial insemination" only for reproduction, and do away completely with this icky dangerous sinful sex stuff? Every pregnancy could be an immaculate conception, every birth a virgin birth!

Some of you are saying "Is he serious?" Well, I think we should take that idea just as seriously as the notion of lifelong virginity for all gays, that is, not at all.

When you just come up with band-aids to cover the wounds, you actually end up encouraging the reckless behavior by trying to lessen the consequences. - krowdykutz

What if we got to the point some day where we weren't just lessening the consequences. What if some day we could eliminate the consequences? Would you still consider the behavior reckless?

(Hypothetical, of course, but gives me an idea of what's going on in your head. Also, there's a far greater chance of this scenario happening than of the entire population going abstinent)

Krowdykutz, I don't understand your logic. If we lived in a perfect world and ALL people believed in exactly the same thing then the vaccine wouldn't be necessary. We could tell our children to NOT have premarital sex and they wouldn't. We could also tell our kids to clean their rooms, not to pick on their little broters, and not roll their eyes when they're been yelled at and they'd never disobey.

The problem is that we don't live in a perfect world and kids are not unthinking robots.

I absolutely believe that you probably do your very best to protect your children when they're with you and hope and pray that they obey your rules when they're not. Fair enough, all good parents do. But I'm also sure that in protecting them, you are equiping them with more than your words or bible teachings.

When they were little, did you put them in a safety seat in the car? You did because you don't trust the other driver. Did you put protective latches on the doors and drawers so they couldn't get to dangerous or poisonous items? You did because sometimes, you look the other way and kids can move soooo fast! How about when you took them to the pool...did you hold their hand and later give them swimming lessons? Of course you did. When they got older, did you help teach them to drive and swear that they'd never see the light of day if you ever caught them without their seat belt on or texting while driving? No need to answer that one if your kids are already driving and I know you'll do that when they do start.

As a parent, you can't be everywhere and the precious 10-year old today who does everything you tell her to do without question may not listen to you when she turns 14, 16, or 25.

I don't understand why you'd take a chance with your son's or daughter's health later on down the road because you think you can control their lifestyle choices forever?

You haven't made a very good argument for absolute abstinence and obedience unless you can tell the world that none of your children, not even once, has ever disobeyed you.

krowdykutz a virgin after about middle school is a myth (and I'm sitting in the middle of Canada's most uptight province) it was hard enough to find a virgin starting highschool twenty years ago now you'd probably have to check preschools

The labeling is clinical, the medical community has names for everything, the idea is to target the high risk group which for std is gays and while not mentioned in the article the tri sexuals as well, those that have sex with males, females, animals, dogs, goats, monkeys etc. High risk groups should be vaccinated or at least made aware that they are high risk and why. The resentment that is vocalized is unfair, medical facts are facts. The days of bi crossing over to straights causing stds with impunity are over, test tell where it came from and due process is initiated. Both criminal and civil actions are now quite everyday..

most gay and bisexual men don't come out until their twenties or later. things like not teaching that condoms are important if you have anal sex are lies that harm them and others.

scales67,

"When will parents ever learn that just because they don't think their children are sexually active doesn't mean that they aren't? Kid do all sorts of things of which their parents are totally unaware."

How right you are! But parents are weird that way. Did you know that the famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud actually wrote a book on the sex lives of children based on his clinical research, and caught hell for it from the public? Children do not have sex lives! So the popular "wisdom" goes.

Right on-- also, trying to have the conversation with a parent that the HPV vaccine is most effective *before* their daughter becomes sexually active is usually met with blank stares also in my experience. Because honestly no one wants to think about their 9 year old having sex (guardisil is approved for girls as young as 9), which is very understandable, but... giving them the shot isn't going to make them suddenly go have sex. And it will protect them from cervical cancer (!!) when, one day, maybe 20 years from now even, they do have sex. That is a gift I would never deny my daughter.

Eleanor - I completely agree with you. My best friend's sister-in-law pressured her incessantly against having her 17-year-old daughter vaccinated using that exact same argument...that her daughter was not sexually active and that getting vaccinated would "grant her permissions" to start having sex. She also used some ridiculous argument based on religion. Luckily, my friend made certain that her daughter received the vaccination. I say better safe than sorry.

I'm a parent.. and I do not trust the FDA or the Pharma companies.. period.. I do not trust all the stats that they throw around as fact.. I don't trust them to tell me whats best for me and my children.. They have way to much "interest" in "selling" their products to be trusted without a good amount of independent study.. I guarantee they are not sharing all the information you really need to make a truly "informed decision" that is best for the long term health of "our next generation", and beyond.... You can be sure that they are only providing enough info to lead you to the decision they want you to make.. and the FDA is in their pocket .. If you don't think so then you don't realize how much money is being made in the Pharma business... It's all about the money.. Don't forget that.. They want you to think they are protesting us from this really evil disease.. and that they are looking out for all of us, and our children.. Clearly they are trying sell this product from every possible angle (Gay, young, old, male, female..... hey, just give it to everyone...... right?).. this article reeks like a "sales pitch".. Andthey know that we beleive everything they tell us.. Just reading all the comments here its a little scary how much we seem to trust these Pharma companies and the FDA..

I am also concerned about the longer term effects on our children and furture generations that they are not telling us about.. How can the general population weigh the risks if they are unaware of them? This product needs more time in clinical testing, a lot more time.

If you want to let the FDA and big Pharma use your children as lab rats, be my guest. All I see here is Big Pharma using every possible angle to sell their products (including using the FDA - which has become business as usual unfortunately), products that they sunk a ton of R&D $$ into... and that they want to get paid for.. to scare as many people as possible into thinking that everyone needs their drug to live..... and if you don't our future and our childrens future is doomed......

Lets call this what it is.. These are drug dealers (companies).. they are selling the Idea's that you need it first (ie.. articles like this), then they get Big Brother to agree with their wisdom, all the sheeple go, ooohh Yea.. we need that.. One more evil disease eradicated..

Clearly this is a major sell job, and a pretty obvious reach to try to push this on the entire population.

What is scaring me is how many people beleive and trust these "marketing tactics", and accept at face value what is clearly a very carefully orchestrated marketing plan..

And don't think I am some kind of a conspiracy nut.. Just go back and read all the comments posted here.. Many of you really believe that everyone should get this vaccine.. Well guess what, there are people just like you in the FDA and in the media who are sharing their opinion's in articels like this, but they put a more factual spin on the data.. so it is ore convincing.. It's human nature, we all want to be convincing.... All I'm saying is be wary.. Don't trust big business and big government, or the media to look out for you.. Me skeptical... In the end it's all about the money.

drug companies follow the $$$! duh! but my take is this if they put out the product and you take it (or your kid does) and it's ineffective you lose $300.00 , if it is effective you avoid chemo or a nasty operation (or death). if they get caught knowingly releasing something (especially for kids) that is harmful (instead of just less effective then their claims) they stand to lose billions in class action suits, legal fee's and the loss of reputation.

Ah, Bob. Did I hit a nerve??

Yeah. The statistic shows the degree to which "straight" society has taught gay men to disrespect their sexuality through anti-gay laws, families, peers, educators, medical communities, etc.

There were also credible statistics about the illiteracy and criminality of black people that slaveholders used to argue that they DESERVED slavery.

Plus, anti-admit-anyone is gay or bi or deserves respect and equality as a human for so being --is hand in hand with lying about everyone's sexuality generally, in that even for the majority not at all attracted to the same sex, a dishonest view of sexuality leads to MORE disrespect of their own sexualities. See the massive harm inflicted on the world by Catholocism.

Does the media also talk about how heterosexual women are at 20 times the risk of HPV caused cervical cancer than lesbians?

Bottom line getting @!$%#ed has risks.

That a good one, but I think that should be "toads", gotit.

Now, now, no need to insult gotit's French lovers!

(grin)

I agree. I also heard if you spray Pam Cooking Spray on your penis before anal intercourse it will prevent fecies from sticking to it. (This post is not intended to be a lame attempt at gay bashing. It is said to work for heterosexuals who engage in this activity as well.)

Ranger -

Probably works for rimming as well.

Who knew that an article about vaccinations would eventually spiral towards a post about pam cooking spray on your genitals within one page? But, I'm still totally amused by your post.

Well, you certainly would not want to use lard - you'd be labled a lard ash.

I was being facecious, no pun intended. Of course if there is a safe vaccine to prevent a desease it should be utilized by anyone who needs it.

There is NO SUCH THING as a SAFE vaccine. PERIOD!

Do you chose not to drive because you could be in a car accident?

I have heard that men you have sex more often (not with multiple partners, just more often in general) are more likly to get prostate cancer. Should men reduce how often they have sex with their wives?

Not so, great apes and other primates frequently do it for fun! And you seem to think you can only get HPV from anal sex. That is not the case, you can get it from vaginal sex as well. And you can get it from your husband, even if he is the only person you've ever had sex with, and even if he had sex with only one other person. Happens all the time. I'm very glad they've invented this vaccine.

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure

Not true! Most species have sex a lot more frequently than is necessary for reproduction, and indulge in non-reproductive forms of sex, such as out-of-season, masturbation, anal, oral, homosex, even cross-species sex. Almost all sex is for pleasure, reproduction is just an extra consequence of some sex.

I've seen cows go all lesbian, mounting each other and clearly enjoying the experience!

I chose to drive but if the statistics indicate I have a much higher chance of having an accident if I speed, drink, tailgate or text then I avoid speeding, drinking, tailgating and texting. That's just common sense.

I also chose not to behave like other primates, dolphins or other animals. I'm a human.

That's why all women should become lesbians... sticking penises in their vaginas causes a several times higher risk of HPV caused cervical cancer!

I agree, but the vaccine is actually manufactured to prevent cancer-- so the cancer and medical issues that worry you (and everyone else) can in some cases be prevented by this vaccine. It's attempting to help solve the problem, certainly not add to it. There have been no studies that say guardisil causes cancer, it's quite the opposite.

google guardisil complications.. are you guys really that dumb that you don't see through these big pharma advertising campaigns for junk science?

I'd rather faint for a minute after a shot than die of cervical cancer. And guillen-barre syndrome is ridiculously rare, a lot more rare than cervical cancer. And even that doesn't necessarily kill you, like cancer might. I have a hard time believing that vaccines are junk science, considering how they eradicated smallpox and could continue to eradicate other diseases if more people would be compliant in their vaccine schedules. I know that there has been a lot of controversy about vaccines recently, but I honestly think some of it (not all! some.) is because people don't remember what it was like to have these diseases rampant in society.

I'd rather faint for a minute after a shot than die of cervical cancer.

more like unwanted abortions and death:

http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2008/jun/judicial-watch-uncovers-new-fda-records-detailing-ten-new-deaths-140-serious-adverse-e

The adverse reactions include 10 deaths since September, 2007. (The total number of death reports is at least 18 and as many as 20.) The FDA also produced 140 “serious” reports (27 of which were categorized as “life threatening”), 10 spontaneous abortions and six cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome – all since January 2008.

Okay, but how many women have gotten the shot? 20 out of how many had serious reactions? Millions? And now these women are safe from cervical cancer (or at least safe from the strains of HPV that cause it)? Children also very rarely get something caused Stevens-Johnsons Syndrome from things like common antibiotics for ear infections, strep throat, etc. (you can look it up if you aren't familiar). Which is also fatal in many cases. But how many mothers do you see refusing antibiotics for ear infections because of the fear of SJS? Not that many in my experience.

It's all about how many reporters try to instill fear in people against their own good. It is really too bad.

Lady, did you just fall off the turnip truck or what? Smallpox was not eradicated by vaccines. Most disease we vaccinate against were on a steady decline BEFORE vaccines were introduced. This had more to do with sanitation, hygiene and the like than vaccine. But Big Pharma, the CDC and the WHO will tell everyone they are responsible for eradicating disease. Again a little research on your part.....

GBS is hardly rare, especially with the swine flu vaccine. Again, cervical cancer is the SLOWEST growing cancer. It can be caught and prevented with annual pap smears and education about safe sex. Not to mention our bodies can rid themselves of HPV in about 2 years.

Eleanor:

I guess you're right. Of those 20 young girls whose only side effect was death, yes, they're safe from cervical cancer. I'd bet dollars to donuts that if your daughter was one of the 20, you'd be singing a different tune. It's all fine and dandy until the complications hit home.

In all my 30 years of existence on this planet, I've had the flu once...coincidentally, I've had the flu shot once.

My biggest concern of this particular drug is that it was fast-tracked through the FDA. It's the kind of drug that should take longer than the standard run-of-the-mill seasonal flu shot, but it was approved by the FDA post haste. Now we're seeing young girls getting innoculated having a higher risk of complications of the drug than the actual cancer itself. I think the FDA should pull it from the market and make Merck do more testing...20 deaths in 2 years is too much.

I won't deny my kids the measels, rubella, polio, whooping cough, et al. shots. They're tried and true, and they work. I also agree with the earlier post saying that better hygiene and sanitation helped curb the tide of these diseases.

One more thing...As I've been reading through these comments, it seems that the champions of this particular vaccine view it as a protect-all from cervical cancer. I hope if you got your daughter this shot that she's still getting her regular pap smears.

Just because these women got sick or died after they received the vaccine doesn't mean it was the vaccine that caused it. I thought everyone knew this, but apparently not: correlation does not imply causation.

I read those VAERS death reports on the Judicial Watch website (http://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/2008/VAERS_Deaths.pdf). The quality and quantity of the evidence is spotty; several are second- or third-hand accounts, and several are missing key pieces of information, including the date of the vaccine and the autopsy results. In VAERS ID 310262-2 (D), the toxicology results are still pending, and in 305606-3 (D) and 314524-1 (D) (who are clearly the same person), the report comes from a physician who heard about the event from the patient's mother's friend and provides no details.

It is possible the vaccine caused these events, but it's also possible that something else did. Look at VAERS ID 278372-1(D)- she had dental surgery on May 31, the vaccine on June 1 and died on June 1. It could have been the vaccine, but it could have been complications from dental surgery or something else entirely, especially since the gynecologist who made the report didn't even see the patient in question; s/he heard about it from another physician. Many of the reports are list several other events that happened before or around the time of the vaccination, such as a head injury (305606-1 (D)), respiratory symptoms (278865-1(D)) and cardiac problems (275438-2(D) and 275428(D)).

If you don't trust Big Pharma, I don't blame you. I personally think people take way too many medications. If you don't want the vaccine, that's your choice and it's none of my business. But if you're going to argue against something that has shown to have a public health benefit, bring some actual evidence to the table.

I just "fell off the turnip truck", but you are the one who thinks that smallpox was eradicated because suddenly everyone suddenly started having better hand hygiene??? But this great hand hygiene only caused these diseases to basically disappear if they also happened- coincidentally- to be vaccine preventable, whereas diseases like the common cold (not vaccine preventable) somehow, miraculously, were not affected by this extraordinary hand hygiene explosion and still continued to spread as rampantly as before? I think that is my cue to step away from this discussion.

Excellent post.

I completely agree.

The purpose of this vaccination is to have unprotected and promiscuous sex.

John Mills - do you seriously believe that statement? In which century were you born? The purpose of this vaccine is to protect people, both male and female, from disease. Period. People who are promiscuous will be so regardless of whether they have been vaccinated. Having the vaccination does not affect personal behavior or morals. It merely protects against the spread of the disease and prevents against the acquisition of cervical cancer, anal cancer, etc.

As for "the future leaders of theland"...do you not read newspapers or watch televised news? Our "great" leaders are not the most moral citizens in the country, and they have committed all sorts of sexual indiscretion without every having taken the vaccine.

There have been no studies showing that giving a guardisil shot to young girls will make them become more sexually promiscuous. It is the adults that perpetuate that strange idea. That is the same as saying that giving a child the MMR vaccine will cause them to run around licking the faces of all of their friends, coughing on everyone, and never washing their hands, because "hey I can't get the measles now". I know, that makes pretty much zero sense on a number of different levels, right?

I'm sure you're a member of the "tea party" and voted for Bush. Ignorance isn't bliss. Ignorance is absurd.

John - Did you ever consider the condom breaking? Even if you are using protection, it is not 100%.

The purpose of this vaccine is to protect people, both male and female, from disease. Period.

Seriously?! The purpose of this vaccine is to make big pharma A LOT of money because sheeple TRUST doctors, cdc, who and pharma....who are ALL in bed together!! 3 shots at $300 a pop......this is their crowning moment if they can get enough sheeple to follow!

I agree. Even mentioning that it should be first and foremost for boys having sex with other boys puts a stigma on a vaccine that unfortunately, for the misguided reasons of many adults (not the young teens that it is targeted towards), already has enough of a stigma that prevents people from getting it. Such a shame! What if we said that the MMR vaccine was only for kids who were dirty and whose parents didn't make them wash their hands? Vaccines are for the good of everyone, not just the few people most vulnerable.

I don't understand why more people don't get this. Duh!! Unless you vaccinate all guys and girls, you are going to keep guys as carriers.

I think the hesitation is that some of these folks privately irrationally hate gay people so much that they would rather keep some gay guys from getting the vaccine--even if it means keeping straight guys from getting the vaccine, never mind that without the vaccine the straight guys will be carriers to girls who didn't get the vaccine and also at risk of getting mouth cancer when they please their female partners with their mouths.

This is so OBVIOUS. Why is there any controversy? I just don't get it.

One point of controversy is that cervical cancer is a relatively rare and treatable cancer, and the risks and side effects of the vaccine are unknown. There are those who say they equal out. When my mother was pregnant they gave a bunch of women a shot to prevent miscarriage, it was called thalidimide - did you ever hear of thalidimide babies - they were born with terrible birth defects. Every drug for everyone doesn't always make sense. It needs to be targeted and the true statistics need to be revealed, not just an advertising campaign.

More misconceptions here:

"One point of controversy is that cervical cancer is a relatively rare and treatable cancer"

It only seems rare in industrialized countries because most people here can afford health care and regular Paps. But worldwide, cervical cancer is the 5th most common cause of cancer deaths in women, and in developing countries it is an even more common cause of death (2nd highest rate of cancer deaths in women in Latin America, and the most common cause of cancer death in women in sub-Saharan Africa.) This vaccine could save many lives in these countries.

As far as "treatable" is concerned, it completely depends on the stage at which cervical cancer is diagnosed. Those same developing countries have higher death rates not only because women do not get regular Paps, but because they often lack any sort of health care at all. By the time they have symptoms, it is often too late, and the cancer treatment options we have here are neither affordable nor easily available there.

Again, living in North America, Australia, or Western Europe gives us many advantages and makes this seem like less of a threat. Pap smears are still the most important public health intervention with respect to overall reductions in cervical cancer, but that only applies when Pap smears are actually available and affordable.

"they gave a bunch of women a shot to prevent miscarriage, it was called thalidimide -"

Thalidomide was not used to prevent miscarriage, it was to prevent morning sickness and insomnia. It was also a pill, not an injection.

You are probably thinking of DES. It was given both IV and orally to prevent miscarriage until about 1971, when the first cases of vaginal cancer started showing up in the prenatally-exposed adult children.

Every drug for everyone doesn't always make sense.

You are absolutely correct! That is why no one should be getting the HPV vaccine or any other vaccine or medication without talking to their own doctor.

The problem with HPV is that by the time someone becomes at risk for infection, they have usually already started having sex. One does not have to be female or a gay male to be at risk. That is why "targeting" this to only certain individuals is not the most effective way to prevent HPV-related disease.

"the risks and side effects of the vaccine are unknown"

Partially correct. Like any new product, the long-term effects will not be known for years. That is why for now, the HPV vaccine should remain a voluntary thing rather than a mandatory vaccination for school entry. If you don't want to vaccinate your kids, that is your choice.

But the short-term effects are known, as this vaccine has been used in a number of clinical trials that follow the vaccinated women for years after being given the shot.

As for efficacy, the numbers from the clinical trials are pretty strong--see page 16 of this pdf file. Short-term side effects are on pages 5-11 of that same pdf file.

This vaccine is not for use in pregnancy, and there are pregnancy registries available for women who are inadvertently vaccinated while pregnant.

http://www.merckpregnancyregistries.com/gardasil.html

http://pregnancyregistry.gsk.com/cervarix.html

With time, there will be more data from these registries, and the effects on pregnancy and on individuals exposed prenatally will be better known.

So the statistics are not hidden from the public or washed over by an ad campaign. If you know where to look, you can find the data from the clinical trials.

Has the research been done on how this vaccine would work on males?

Pages 17, 19-21, and 23-25 of the pdf of the Gardasil PI show some of the data in boys and men ages 16 though 26.

Real compassionate, J.

Wow! That's a lot of money for pharma and their docs!!