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The HPV vaccine is administered in a three-shot series. You and I are just getting to know one another. While I've been writing a twice-weekly opinion column for Wilton Patch for the last year, and readers there are more ...
Earlier this week someone sent me the link to an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. It was about GOP presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann?s recent comments about the human papillomavirus (or HPV) vaccine that she made during the recent campaign debates. My friend thought it would make good fodder for a column, and knew I?d be interested in the subject.
I was a little hesitant to write about it in this forum. Heck, it?s still early in our relationship and you?re just getting to know bits and pieces about where I stand on certain issues and what my life philosophies are. And isn?t this issue really more of a national one, since it?s taking place on the presidential campaign stages rather than right here in Fairfield County?
Because, truly, what?s at the heart of the brouhaha, and what?s getting forgotten in favor of presidential politics and soundbites, are children.
Backtracking a little to explain, Rep. Bachmann has gone on the attack against Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the 2007 move he made in his state issuing an executive order mandating sixth-grade girls receive a vaccine against HPV. Assuming her intent was to characterize Perry?s action as creating legislation without approval from the state?s legislative body, Bachmann fired off this soundbite during the debate:
?To have innocent little 12 year old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat-out wrong.?
Political affiliations aside, what?s most concerning to me is how science and health?specifically the health of female children?is now so politicized. Someone has taken a medical issue that?s backed by scientific research and fact, and hijacked it for the purpose of political attack, spin and polling points.
What are the medical facts? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HPV causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer and genital warts, in addition to being linked to other kinds of cancers and diseases. While there are multiple strains of HPV, and not all of them directly cause cancer, cervical cancer is still the second leading cancer-killer of women worldwide.
A-ha! Is that what makes this issue hot and?pardon the media parlance pun?sexy? Because somehow when the topic of ?innocent little 12 year old girls? gets mixed up with protecting them from a virus that gets transmitted through sexual contact, it suddenly gets to be co-opted by politicians on the basis of protecting moral values?and it gets them airtime.
In full disclosure, I grew up in a household that was comfortable talking about science, medicine and fact. My dad is an OBGYN, so we weren?t afraid of using correct anatomical terminology or talking about human sexuality. It?s formed the basis for the way I approach issues like this one.
The science shows that in order for this vaccine to work it needs to be administered before a person becomes sexually active. According to a statement released by the American Academy of Pediatrics following the media uproar after Bachmann?s comments, they ?recommend that girls receive [the] HPV vaccine around age 11 or 12. That?s because this is the age at which the vaccine produces the best immune response in the body, and because it?s important to protect girls well before the onset of sexual activity.?
Please note, it was me who italicized the statement?s words ?well before? to emphasize that science isn?t encouraging little girls to start being sexually active earlier. Knowing that?s been the objection for some opposed to this vaccine, I wanted to make the demarcation between science and morality even clearer.
Let's continue with the facts, especially with regard to Bachmann's baseless assertion about the effects of giving the vaccine, and add what the AAP had to say:
"The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record."
Legislation concerning vaccines and immunizations is written at the state level. Currently there are no laws on Connecticut books about anything having to do with HPV?at all. Shortly after it was recommended at the federal level in 2006 that girls aged 11 and 12 receive routine vaccinations, several states?including Connecticut?began debate on it. Nothing has passed our legislatures, however, as of 2007, the last year anything on HPV was brought up for discussion. (The CT Department of Health does have a fact sheet on HPV.)
Health and vaccine policy does get set by government, especially when it protects the lives of the public against epidemics?think chicken pox, measles, and many others. There?s usually nothing compulsory and parents have the right to make an ultimate choice to opt out, as was the case in Texas (although Gov. Perry?s executive order was ultimately overturned by his legislature).
It doesn?t need to be an issue that gets divvied up based on political party. Just look at Virginia, where a state mandate for the HPV vaccine was passed with the support of politicians in both parties. Chris Stolle, a Republican state delegate there told the Huffington Post, "I'm a conservative Republican and I certainly do believe in limited government and limited interference of government into our lives. As we look at the function of government, I would put number one as being to protect its citizens. I think that a vaccination program for a disease that's epidemic falls very clearly within the realms of a small limited government."
What is unfortunately lost in this debate is the opportunity for the politicians to use science to enlighten and protect. The resulting costs from such a fatal disease?impacting families, hospitals, insurers, and society?is a potentially too high a price to pay.
Instead, code words and push-button fear messages get bandied about, furthering the campaign at the expense of some of our youngest citizens, playing political roulette with our daughters? lives.
I heard about the vaccine a few years ago and I think that if it will help our daughters against a disease that can be fatal why not mandate it for them. It is mandatory for children to get shots as early as 2 days old to fight infections so why not add another one!
Heather, Heather, Heather. Even though I am not a fan of Bachmann, she states someone came up to her and said this statement, she did not state this as fact and never said it was her opinion it was the cause for the retardation.
Would think that males should share in the protection even if there is only a chance for venereal warts for the males - they are still the most likely the carrier to females.
I so agree with you. Girls never intend to go out and have sex the first time. They are usually pressed by peers and by that time the boys they are hanging around with are already experienced. Protect them now, later is too late.
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