Girl Rejects Gardasil, Loses Path to Citizenship

[TrakFan]

I'm already a citizen, but I find it a bit disturbing to require a Mandatory Gardasil Vaccine for Female Immigrants

"Since 2008, the government has required that female immigrants between the ages of 11 through 26 applying for permanent resident or refugee status receive Gardasil, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006."

[polevaultpower]

I find it disturbing too. STD vaccinations should not be mandatory.

[gh]

I find it disturbing that it isn't mandatory for everyone. Igorance about vaccinations is leading us all too rapidly down a path towards some nasty health problems.

[TrakFan]

If a healthy individual has the ability to catch a disease simply by being in the presence/proximity of infected individuals...I'm all for that type of vaccine. But Gardasil, and what it protects against, does not fall into that category.

[gh]

The success rate of the "I'm staying a virgin" crowd is, unfortunately, appallingly low. Why play Russian Roulette?

[Davidokun]

I find it disturbing that it isn't mandatory for everyone.

In the case of this vaccine, the jury is still out:

The Risks and Benefits of HPV Vaccination

Why play Russian Roulette?

Indeed.

[lonewolf]

I don't know if the stuff works but why would anyone object to receiving a possibly beneficial vaccine as a requirement for immigration? It is not impugning their character. Stuff happens.

[Davidokun]

Stuff like this:

The report by Rothman and Rothman demonstrates how the vaccine manufacturer funded educational programs sponsored by professional medical associations in the United States. The article illustrates how the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, and American College Health Association helped market the vaccine and influenced decisions about vaccine policy with the help of ready-made presentations, slide sets, e-mails, and letters. It is of course reasonable for professional medical associations to promote medical interventions they believe in. But did these associations provide members with unbiased educational material and balanced recommendations? Did they ensure that marketing strategies did not compromise clinical recommendations? These educational programs strongly promoting HPV vaccination began in 2006, more than a year before the trials with clinically important end points were published. How could anyone be so certain about the effect of the vaccine? This matters because the voices of experts such as the professional medical associations are especially important with a complex issue such as this.

And stuff like this:

In another article, Slade and colleagues from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration describe the adverse events that occurred 2.5 years following the receipt of quadrivalent HPV vaccine that were reported through the US Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). Even though most of the reported adverse events were not serious, there were some reports of hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, transverse myelitis, pancreatitis, and venous thromboembolic events. VAERS is a passive, voluntary reporting system, and the authors call attention to its limitations. They point out that only systematic, prospective, controlled studies will be able to distinguish the true harmful effects of the HPV vaccine. These limitations work both ways: it is also difficult to conclude that a serious event is not caused by the vaccine.

[BisonHurdler]

I find it disturbing that it isn't mandatory for everyone. Igorance about vaccinations is leading us all too rapidly down a path towards some nasty health problems.

Agreed. The anti-vaccine movement is disturbing. The problem is not only undereducation, but miseducation.

I don't think the anti-vaccine crowd actually understands what vaccines have done for society and health on a grand scale. I will agree that the issue with Gardasil is not 100% cut and dried at this point, but in general, there are very few reasons not to get vaccinated against the standard diseases.

One of the worst arguments I've heard (multiple times) against vaccinations is "my kid didn't get vaccinated, and he never got the disease! So why should anyone get vaccinated?" The concept of herd immunity escapes them.

Almost as bad as "the flu shot causes the flu." Makes me laugh every time.

[jhc68]

If a healthy individual has the ability to catch a disease simply by being in the presence/proximity of infected individuals...I'm all for that type of vaccine. But Gardasil, and what it protects against, does not fall into that category.

This is a simplistic world view. Suppose a young woman stays a virgin until marriage and then is infected with HPV by her husband who unknowingly acquired the virus before their marriage?

Before dismissing this scenario as far-fetched, I'll add that I know a young woman who contracted cervical cancer in exactly this situation. Point is that the presumption that the vacine is only necessary for promiscuous young women is fatally flawed.

[polevaultpower]

I think people should be able to make an educated decision about it and decide for themselves, not be forced into it. Yes, even if you are saving yourself for marriage, there is a chance that your partner could bring it into the marriage or that you could be raped and get it.

But I think it's offensive to assume that all young people are incapable of controlling themselves, therefore they should all be vaccinated. I saved myself for marriage and I know lots of other people who did as well. I know that's not the norm, but it is possible and there are still people who do it. It's not Russian Roulette.

I am not anti-vaccination, and I am sure I'll give my kids all the standard childhood ones. But I won't make them vaccinate for STDs, and I would sooner homeschool than send them to public school if it was required. I will let them make the decision for themselves, and if they decided they wanted it I would respect that (and I would not assume it meant they would be sleeping around either).

I'm not against the vaccine, I just don't think it should be mandatory.

[jhc68]

You are missing the point... it IS Russian Roullette for females without vaccination. And it has nothing to do with girls being unable to control themselves, that is not at issue.

My understanding is that there is no HPV test for men, so the virus can be spread in a monogamous marriage without either partner being aware until too late. Girls can lead entirely chaste lives until marriage and die unneccesarily from cervical cancer.

[polevaultpower]

The vaccination only covers four of the hundred+ strains of HPV. It only covers two of the 15 strains of HPV that are known have links to cervical cancer. Yes, those two strains are estimated to cause 70% of the cases, but it's not going to prevent all cases, and it's really hard to say how the virus will evolve over the next 20-40 years.

Only a small percentage of women who get one of these 15 strains of potentially cancerous HPV actually develop cancer. Cervical cancer is usually slow to progress and can usually be detected through regular pap tests.


So let's go over the facts again.
HPV is very easily spread through sexual contact.
It's estimated that 80% of Americans get it at some point.
Most cases of HPV are asymptomatic.
Most women who have one of the potentially cancerous strains never develop cervical cancer.
Most cases of cervical cancer can be detected in the precancerous stage by regular pap tests.
The vaccine at best might cover 70% of potential new cases.



For me personally, I'd rather focus on reducing my risk of cervical cancer by limiting sexual contact and getting screened regularly. Less sex and more screening is good for a host of other ailments as well (umm like AIDS which is a whole lot less treatable than cervical cancer).

I'm not opposed to the vaccine, but thinking it is the cure to the problem of cervical cancer is naive at best. At worst it could potentially give some girls an excuse to not get a pap (it's not exactly something people are dying to do!) or to think they are better protected than they are.


Any vaccine does have potential side effects. I am willing to accept the risks so that my kids are protected against measles, mumps, rubella, etc. I think I will let them decide for themselves when it comes to flu shots and HPV vaccines.

[polevaultpower]

You are missing the point... it IS Russian Roullette for females without vaccination. And it has nothing to do with girls being unable to control themselves, that is not at issue.

My understanding is that there is no HPV test for men, so the virus can be spread in a monogamous marriage without either partner being aware until too late. Girls can lead entirely chaste lives until marriage and die unneccesarily from cervical cancer.

Your implication is that men are unable to control themselves? Or just assuming that no man would enter marriage a virgin?

SOME people do get married and know that their partner has never touched anyone else and that it's not likely to be an issue. It's not ALWAYS a case of Russian Roulette.

The risk of dying of cervical cancer is very low if caught early. The stats I saw said that if caught in the earliest stages the 5-year survival rate is 92%. Wikipedia says that most of the 11,000 cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in the US each year are from women who have not had a pap smear in the previous five years.



I have a family history of stroke and migraines, so I feel like my potential for side effects from a vaccine could be higher. My other risk factors for HPV are very low. Therefore, for me, I'll pass. (I'm also now considered too old and married, but I was 24 in 2006 when the vaccine was released).

There, I just made an educated decision. Shouldn't immigrants be given the same choice?

[Pego]

There, I just made an educated decision. Shouldn't immigrants be given the same choice?

You made a decision. Whether it is "educated", or whether it isn't a public health hazard decision is highly debatable.

There are public health decrees for immigrants that might seem unfair. When I immigrated to USA in 1968, we were required to receive a smallpox vaccination. Nevermind that the smallpox was by that time virtually eliminated, nevermind that we came from central Europe, where the last case of smallpox occurred some 70 or so years earlier, nevermind that we had been vaccinated against it 2-3X before.