Merck's HPV Vaccine Receives Criticism for All the Wrong Reasons

Once again political and personal hang-ups are standing in the way of a proactive medical breakthrough. This time the target is Merck's new HPV Vaccine Gardasil, intended for use on pre-teens before they come of sexual age. This newly-approved drug will guard against a sexually transmitted infection called the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which in turn will lower the rate of cervical cancer. While not all cervical cancer is caused by HPV, those with certain high-risk strands of HPV are more likely to cause cervical cancer.

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2007 about 11,150 cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and kill about 3670 women will die of cervical cancer. A combination of the new Gardasil vaccine, new liquid pap smear tests and the HPV DNA test will all but eliminate the threat of cervical cancer.

Opposition is coming from both conservative parents and politicians who feel that allowing pre-teen girls to be vaccinated for the HPV infection at such early ages will promote promiscuity. Meanwhile Merck is looking to make the vaccine mandatory for all pre-teen girls, but minority conservative groups will always have the upper hand on drug companies who are normally out to pad their pockets as much as possible and then hope to stumble across a cure once the bonuses have been equally distributed. While being skeptical towards big drug companies is a smart choice, now is not the time.

Merck's opposition is led by those with personal demons and ignorance towards the issue itself. The conservative parents feel like they would have failed their children or look like hypocrites in their eyes if they preach abstinence their whole lives and then agree to an HPV vaccine, which could give the green light for sexual behavior. Politicians opposing Merck are fueled by the conservative sector to gain votes but they too are ignorant to the diseases involved, though some argue that the drug was made available to the public too soon and without enough safety data. I say if it will keep my daughters protected then bring it on.

Perhaps a simple solution for Merck would be to come up with a slogan such as, "Gardasil - HPV Vaccine for open-minded parents who would prefer to see their children alive and cancer-free in twenty years or at least have an intact cervix or full-length vaginal wall and/or colon". Apparently the message isn't coming across that HPV causes cancer and last time I heard, cancer still kills. HPV is a very common infection and many compare it to the common cold as it can infect up to eighty percent of the female population. Unlike a common cold, HPV won't always go away on its own depending on the strand. While women with many sex partners have a higher risk of catching HPV, it only takes one time and one person, similar to any other STD or sexually transmitted infection. When HPV is present in the woman's body for approximately a decade and sometimes even sooner, the infection will cause the cells of the cervix to become dysplastic, or abnormal. If not caught through standard or liquid pap smears these cells could become severely dysplastic. At this stage there is a fine line between severe cervical dysplasia and stage 1 cervical cancer, in fact some sources call the former stage 0 cervical cancer or carcinoma in situ. While cervical cancer is a highly-treatable form of cancer, if left unnoticed it can kill just like any other cancer.

Even if an HPV infection never officially crosses the line into the world of oncology, the cure for dysplastic cervical cells isn't a pleasant one. Having the end of your cervix burned off by a laser isn't a painless experience to say the lease, in fact neither are the 12 shots of anesthesia that are put into the cervix beforehand and I speak from experience. The slightest touch of a pap-smear scraper is enough to send a woman's cervix into full-on cramping. Imagine being stuck with needles in a place where no needles, lasers or anything other than what God intended. The pain was unbearable and it was the first time I've ever fainted for any reason and I tend to have a very strong pain threshold. Then there are the colposcopies after the fact where you live in fear of your doctor seeing the vinegar solution bring about ominous white-colored cells, the tell-tale sign of yet more dysplasia and another round of laser.

It makes one wonder whether these conservative parents would look at this treatment as a well-deserved punishment for having sex at a young age. What if their perfectly-raised daughter is a virgin until her wedding night at 25 and then catches HPV from her spouse who is indeed not a virgin and then contracts cervical cancer years later? Could that parent live with his/her decision? Will parents react the same way when a vaccine for AIDS is discovered?

Gardasil was designed to protect women from HPV from before they start having sexual encounters until the day they die but in order for the vaccine to have a high success rate it must be administered at an early age. Conservative parents are faulting the big, bad drug companies when in reality they should ensure their daughters' safety and health first and then continue to preach good moral values as if the vaccine was nothing special. A simple vaccine does not undermine children. Parents and their own hang-ups on morality and sexuality can kill these days.

Perhaps Dr. Kenneth Haller, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine put it best when he said, "... 3,000 to 4,000 women die every year because of cervical cancer. This vaccine has the potential to prevent 70 percent of these deaths." I feel another Gardasil slogan coming on.