The CDC's advisory panel on Immunization Practices just voted to recommend a vaccination for HPV be regularly given to girls ages 11-12. HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer among women.
This is huge, as I'm told it will effect whether or not schools immunize girls for HPV and whether or not insurers will cover it. Cost of the immunization without insurance coverage is over $500! It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Our school provided voluntary immunizations for Hep. B for a minimal charge--hope this is what happens with the HPV vaccine.
This is a great step for women's health, especially for it to come about under an administration that has been blocking access to EC for the past million years, wants to treat us all as "pre-pregnant", and refuses to acknowlede that abstinence-only-until-marriage education endangers our health.
High fives to the CDC!
5 comments:
I do hope this is something given to all of these young girls; it is frustrating that women who are older won't have this opportunity to reduce the risk, so the CDC should really force insurance companies to cover it!
I have other ideas about why this Admin. is requiring REQUIRING PEOPLE young women to get an immunization for a sexually transmitted disease at an age where they are old enough to make a choice for themselves about their bodies. Just another way for them to control a woman's body.
Don't get me wrong, the vaccination itself is a major success story for HPV. However, I fear that fear and misinformation is driving the support of this yet-another-example of how women can't make choices for themselves. There are over 100 kinds of HPV and most of them are fought off by our bodies. What will the vaccination do to our bodies when it no longer need to do the fighting for itself? Also, why can't we make the vaccination available widely so that the choice is easy for people who choose to do this to their bodies - to take or not to take. Finally, why are boys required to take this? They carry the virus as well and it causes many problems for them as well; maybe not cancer, but why do they get to choose for themselves on whether to have this vaccination?
Very suspect, indeed.
Notice, though
I guess I have terrible grammar and spelling when I get all fired up ... I think you know what I"m saying though ;-)
That was my first question when I read this - the one about giving the vaccine to boys. Same question I have always had about birth control. ANYWAY, just wait, the FDA or the Admin will bitch slap the CDC for coming out with this statement. Wait for it. . .
I know that people in the reproductive health community have been asking the same thing--has this been tested on men? Men are likely to not show any symptoms of HPV and act mostly as carriers. Because they don't show symptoms, they're not likely to get treated for HPV and continue to pass it on to their partners.
I don't believe the CDC's recommendation constitutes a mandate for vaccination. I think it will be like the hepatitus B shots--you're encouraged to get immunized and made aware that this is for an STI.
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