Preventing cervical cancer may be the last thing on the mind of the average 11-year-old girl. But by getting vaccinated for human papillomavirus, or HPV, the virus that causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer, a girl reduces her lifetime risk of developing the disease by 70 percent, studies suggest. The vaccine, called Gardasil and made by Merck, protects against the two types of HPV — 16 and 18 — responsible for most cervical cancers, the second leading cancer killer among women worldwide. It also immunizes against HPV 6 and 11, the types of the virus that cause 90 percent of genital warts, which are not life-threatening but can be distressing and difficult to treat. The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends vaccinating girls between the ages of 11 and 12, and as young as 9 at the discretion of doctors. It also advises that girls and women ages 13 to 26 receive the vaccine if they have not yet been immunized. But the vaccine is controversial, and only 24 percent of eligible girls and women have gotten at least one of the three recommended doses. One reason for the controversy is that the vaccine is relatively new. The Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2006, and this leaves some parents, and doctors, questioning its long-term safety and efficacy. “Studies have been done on fewer than 2,000 girls ages 10 to 15, and to know if a vaccine is safe, millions of people have to get it and have a chance to report any adverse events,” said Dr. Diane Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at Dartmouth Medical School. “It’s a public health experiment, but that’s the nature of vaccines.” Proponents counter by pointing to Gardasil’s track record. An estimated eight million girls and women in the United States have received one or more doses of the vaccine, with fewer than 7 percent reporting serious side effects — about half the rate for vaccines over all.
Please click on the link below to read the New York Times article:
http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-cervicalcancer-ess.html?ref=health
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