Watchdog Groups Question The Use Of New Vaccine
A panel of experts gathered at the City of Hope this week to promote a vaccine that they say would assist in eradicating one of the deadliest cancers among women.
The workshop, which drew more than 60 people to the cancer centres Cooper Auditorium, on Thursday, also featured Assemblyman Ed Hernandez and D-West Covina.
The Hernandez's Assembly Bill 16 would require mandatory vaccinations of pre-teen girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease that is believed to be responsible for at least 70 percent of cervical cancers.
The vaccine Gardasil is to be administrated in three-doses and it has already been approved for use by the FDA and Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which makes final recommendations on federal vaccination policy.
But the immunization has come under fire by watchdog groups, who have questioned its safety and contend that the vaccine could lead to increased sexual promiscuity among young girls.
Hernandez said his bill has been amended to address some of those criticisms.
AB 16 now will postpone mandatory HPV vaccinations for five years, to allow the state extra time to evaluate Gardasil's safety. It also includes a provision allowing parents to opt out of having their children vaccinated for religious or medical reasons.
Hernandez said "We held the bill back to calm the pundits and to make it a better piece of legislation," then he added that a similar controversy surrounded the Hepatitis B vaccine, another sexually transmitted disease. Screening techniques like the pap smear have helped reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in the U.S. to about eight cases in 100,000, or about 10,000 cases per year, stated Dr. Sharon Wilczynski, one of City of Hope's leading experts in gynaecologic pathology.
About 3,700 women die of the disease in the United States each year and that number jumps to 288,000 worldwide, with cervical cancer being the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in developing countries. Wilczynski said, “Not all women are screened for the disease in the United States, particularly immigrant women.”
He then went on to say "The rate in Los Angeles is 13 cases per 100,000." Besides the gap in screening - an estimated 5 percent of women who get the HPV 16 strain who go unscreened and untreated will go on to get cervical cancer,
“Problems with pap smears such as false positives make it important to use the HPV vaccine as a safety net, said Dr. Ilana Cass, another City of Hope panellist.” "HPV is - bar none - the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease in the U.S., with about 80 percent of women being infected in their lifetime," said Cass, who conducts federally funded research into cervical cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre.
She noted that studies so far have shown that immunizing young girls before their first sexual encounter has been nearly 100 percent effective in preventing HPV infection within five years of the shots.
And she went on to say “The World Health Organization has declared HPV a "necessary cause" for cervical cancer, meaning that without the virus, the cancer can never form.”
Hernandez said, "This is the first vaccine that prevents cancer; this is monumental. But not everybody is as enthusiastic about the HPV vaccine. " "The drug only went through three and a half years of testing, leaving the medical community somewhat in the dark as to what serious adverse effects might result from the long term," according to a statement issued by the Abstinence Clearinghouse, a non-profit group that promotes premarital abstinence and monogamous marriage.
The National Vaccine Information Centre e.g. a watchdog group has also urged further testing of the vaccine, while conservative groups like the Family Research Council have argued that the immunizations would give young girls license to engage in premarital sex.
It is said the most common side effects so far have been pain and swelling in the injection area. A few more serious effects like fainting and ectopic pregnancy have been so minimal that it is difficult to link those with the vaccine.
Cass said, “With 4 million vaccines administered in the U.S. the available data shows that even in young girls it is very safe," "In response to claims regarding abstinence, I don't have a lot of understanding for that mentality."
She then pointed to studies that show that nearly 30 percent of 15-year-old girls in the U.S. have had vaginal intercourse, and that number goes up to nearly 70 percent by age 18. Cass said. "That is the reality in the United States,"
The cost of the vaccine is about $300 for all three doses and has also been criticized. Hernandez said, “that other legislation is also being considered to require insurance companies that provide cancer treatment coverage also pay for the vaccine, and that federal and state funds like the $11.3 million in Governor. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget for vaccine programs should help the uninsured.” He then went on to say, "As other similar vaccines come out, the prices will drop."
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