Questions About Gardasil: Cervical Cancer Vaccine and Your Daughter

Gardasil is a new vaccine made by Merck and Co. It is designed to prevent cervical cancer in females and has been approved by the FDA for use in females as young as 9 years old to 26 years old.

This new vaccine is for the HPV virus. HPV stands for Human Papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted virus that causes genital warts, abnormal Pap smears, and has been linked to cervical cancer.

According to experts, approximately 20 million people have HPV in the United States. About 3500 women die each year of cervical cancer in the United States. It is possible to have HPV and even pass it on to your sex partner without having any symptoms or knowing that you are infected with this virus. At this time, there is no know cure for HPV.

In most cases, the virus simply goes away. In some cases, the virus lingers, causing changes to the cells that may lead to cancer. Based on this science, the Gardasil vaccine is designed to be given before people become sexually active. The ACIP is recommending that this vaccine be given routinely to all girls around age 11 or 12.

Even though Gardasil doesn't prevent all forms of genital warts or all cases of cervical cancer, it appears to be highly effective in preventing the types of HPV and genital warts that it was designed to. Gardasil apparently prevents about 70% of the types of viruses that lead to cervical cancer.

Currently, 18 states are considering making this vaccine mandated for all girls entering the sixth grade. Texas governor, Rick Perry, signed a mandate requiring this vaccine in his state.

I have two daughters myself. They are a few years away from middle school, but a mandated vaccine aimed at reducing what is essentially a sexually transmitted disease concerns me. A lot of the parents I have talked to have similar concerns.

First, there is the moral implication of such a vaccine. While there are girls having sex in the sixth grade, a mandated vaccine implies that it is almost inevitable that every girls will have unprotected sex before she is eighteen. I, like many other parents, have higher aspirations for my daughters than to assume that they will have teenage sex, therefore having an STD, therefore they need to be protected from this STD with a mandated vaccine.

A second concern is the risk of side effects. If approximately half of all sexually active men and women carry HPV, and a relatively small number of women have cervical cancer, then any side effects of a vaccine designed to prevent HPV must be weighed carefully. According to the CDC, the only side effect in clinical trials was a mild soreness at the injection site. But the National Vaccine Information Center, which is the nation`s leading vaccine safety and informed consent advocacy organization, is questioning the safety of Gardasil.

The NVIC has found reports of loss of consciousness, seizures, joint pain and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. In a statement made by NVIC Health Policy Analyst Vicky Debold, RN, Ph.D, she stated "These young girls are experiencing severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision, slurred speech, fainting, involuntary contraction of limbs (seizures), muscle weakness, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet and joint pain. Some of the girls have lost consciousness during what appears to be seizures."

Some prominent pediatricans are also wary about recommending a mandate for vaccinating with Gardasil without more studies and tests. James Conway, chair of the infectious diseases committee of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians, stated that he felt it was not appropriate to mandate a vaccine so early in the game.

The news that Merck and Co. is behind the huge lobbying effort for 18 states to mandate Gardasil for young girls is hardly shocking. After all, Merck and Co. would earn hundreds of millions of dollars if those laws pass.

None of these concerns is more important than the life, health, and safety of our children. And Gardasil, I am sure, was designed to save lives. But I think each parent needs to evaluate this vaccine carefully. Certainly no parent wants to use a potentially harmful vaccine because a large drug company is promoting it.