Word: hpv
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...vaccine, called Gardasil and manufactured by Merck, is one of the first immunizations to protect against a cancer - in this case, cervical cancer, which is most commonly caused by infection with HPV. Because the virus is sexually transmitted, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended in 2006 that girls get the vaccine at ages 11 and 12, before they become sexually active, so they have the best chance of avoiding the cancer and genital warts caused by HPV. States joined in, attempting to mandate HPV vaccination for school entry, but parents balked, in part because of concerns about...
...were overweight or on birth control pills. "Was it that this age group also tends to have these risk factors or did the vaccine have some sort of role?" asks the CDC's Dr. Barbara Slade, lead author of the paper. "We really don't know." (See more about HPV...
...that uncertainty that is beginning to bother many physicians about the HPV vaccine. According to Dr. Charlotte Haug, editor in chief of the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association and author of an editorial that JAMA published alongside Slade's paper, cervical cancer can be effectively picked up with Pap smears, a routine part of regular gynecological exams, and it's not clear that adding Gardasil to those screenings would significantly reduce a woman's chance of developing the disease...
...health experts at Columbia University have a new study that shines a light on the marketing of Gardasil. They say Merck may be indirectly influencing doctors to use the vaccine by providing grants to professional medical organizations which then train and pay physicians to speak about the benefits of HPV vaccination. Merck denies the allegations. "The material developed by these societies is done independent of Merck and without any influence or review from Merck," says Dr. Richard Haupt, who heads the company's HPV-vaccine program. (Read "Selling Gardasil at the Movies...
...GlaxoSmithKline prepares to launch its own HPV vaccine in the U.S. and states continue to debate mandated immunizations, some doctors are taking a wait-and-see approach. "It's too early to begin to make decisions about mandates," says Dr. Joseph Bocchini, who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases. "We need more time to educate families and physicians and to get more data on the duration of immunity and safety." That's something many parents will agree with...