Monday, March 15, 2010

HPV, Immunization - The Facts Are Simple


While abstinence is 100% effective for those that make that choice. Condoms can work but are only effective is used correctly and as long as they do not break. Also, these solution also have absolutely no benefit for those that are victims of sex crimes like rape or molestation.

It is a hard pill to swallow but 1 in 8 women are raped in their life time.

According to the National center for Victims of Crime:


12.1 million American women have been victims of forcible rape. In other words, 13% or one out of eight adult American women has been the victim of forcible rape in her lifetime. (National Center for Victims of Crime & Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 1992.)
In 1994, 64.2% of all rapes and sexual assaults were committed by offenders who were previously known to the victim. (Ringel, 1997).
The fact is these women are often in a much higher risk group for STI’s (Sexually Transmitted Infections). Very often these victims are young girls or young women. This vaccine can at least spare them this additional risk after such a horrible violation.

Then look at the facts:

How common is HPV in the population? Chances are that you have already had, currently have it or will have it.

According to the CDC:

At least 50% of sexually active people will get HPV at some time in their lives. Every year in the United States (U.S.), about 6.2 million people get HPV. HPV is most common in young women and men who are in their late teens and early 20s.

As published in the April, 2005 issue of April issue of the journal Lancet Oncology

The vaccine “…human papillomavirus that are most likely to cause cervical cancer or genital warts was 89% effective in preventing infection with the viral strains and 100% effective in preventing cervical cancer, precancerous lesions or genital warts, according to a study published in the April issue of the journal Lancet Oncology."

According to the CDC:

The FDA has licensed the HPV vaccine as safe and effective. This vaccine has been tested in over 11,000 females (ages 9-26 years) around the world. These studies have shown no serious side effects. The most common side effect is soreness at the injection site. CDC, working with the FDA, will continue to monitor the safety of the vaccine after it is in general use.

So testing has been done on girls as young as 9. This is a perfectly acceptable form of prevention based on legitimate research and reputable sources. In medicine you weight the benefit versus risk. The research is showing that the biggest risk with the injection is a sore spot at the injection site, something akin to a slight soreness, probably very similar to my allergy shots. So a day of very mild almost imperceptible irritation. The other side of this coin is that there is a 1 in 8 chance that the person could have pre-cancerous cells forming on their cervix.

The prevalence of the disease if extremely widespread and can be found everywhere. Every one of you knows someone who has is, will have it or already had it. If you have ever had sex you probably had sex with someone that had it. So it will definitely meet the “requirement" to be wide spread. So the Government can easily show in court that it has a “compelling interest" due the fact that this disease is in fact wide spread.

“… the Arkansas Supreme Court in Wright v. DeWitt School District45 held that no First Amendment right existed to a religious exemption given the state’s compelling interest in mandating vaccination under its police power to protect the public health.g (238 Ark. at 913, 385 S.W.2d at 648). Significantly, the U.S. Supreme Court in Yoder referenced the Wright decision in dicta regarding cases in which the health of the child or public health are at issue, with the implication that a vaccination mandate providing no religious exemption would meet the compelling state interest test (406 U.S. at 230, 92 S.Ct. at 1540–1)."



I can tell you from experience that the scare these precancerous cells cause are not fun. My wife went through this a few years ago. While it is really not a very big deal if caught early, that wait for analysis is fairly nerve wracking. If a simple vaccine could have prevented such a thing, It would have been well worth it.

This is a public health issue, the problem is wide spread and large numbers of Americans are at risk from this disease that we now have the power to eradicate. To put this in perspective, Approximately 20 million Americans (CDC) have this disease; that is equal to the population of the entire state of Texas.

When it comes to this disease, people need to look at the facts and not the hysteria generated by a politically motivated religious right movement that obviously has zero concern for the health of girls or women. It is amazing how much of this anti-vaccine agenda is promoted using out right lies and misinformation. What ever happened to “though shall not lie?" In fact lying and intentionally endangering the health of hundreds of thousands of people is repugnant and amoral.

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