It seemed to me that the majority of women on campus would have been vaccinated for HPV, the Human Papillomavirus. I was obviously aware that there would be those who had not received the vaccine. However, I wasn't concerned until I heard the following statement from a Univesity of Wisconsin sophomore: "I haven't gotten it yet. I just haven't made it a priority." Unfortunately, the concerns do not end there. The growing controversy over giving Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, to young girls is a prime example of the ongoing war between morality and well-being. The drug has been proven to protect against cervical cancer, making it difficult to come up with a reason not to get vaccinated. The raw numbers speak for themselves. According to the Center for Disease Control, by age 50, 80 percent of women will have contracted genital HPV and as of now, 20 million in the United States alone are infected with the virus. It can be passed on through genital-to-genital contact or from mother to child. Although there is no known cure for HPV, the recently released and heavily advertised drug Gardasil can effectively protect women against cervical cancer directly caused by HPV. If given to females before they become sexually active, the vaccine proves to defend against all four of the strands of HPV that lead to cervical cancer. If administered after sexual activity ensues, however, the drug's effectiveness weakens as it only protects against the strands that have not already been contracted. For this reason, it is also recommended that the drug be administered to girls as young as nine to ensure sexual activity has not yet occurred. Many argue that vaccination at such a young age seems outrageous because the drug promotes an unsafe approach to sexual activity. "On one hand [the vaccine] will prevent cancer. On the other hand it might send a message that says,’Sex is OK,'"Caidi, a junior at UW said. However, at age nine, children barely know what sex means, let alone engage in it. The belief that sex will ensue after the vaccine is administered is simply unreasonable. If children are aware the drug is protecting them from cancer and have no conception of it as contraception, there is no reason the drug would lead to sexual activity in children. The earlier children are vaccinated, the more effective the drug proves to be. For those already sexually active before the vaccination is administered, critics may say the amount of sexual activity will rise. But how will one vaccine lead to having more sex? With the existence of so many harmful STDs, one vaccine is not going to make people think, "I'm protected against HPV, time for unprotected sex!" This drug is an advancement intended to benefit women's health and should be treated as such. It is as simple as this: The drug prevents cervical cancer, so vaccinate yourself. However, the method of advertising the drug does need some changes. Gardasil's advertising campaign is headed by the "One Less" slogan. After viewing brief shots of empowered women all wearing the words "one less" on their clothing, the viewer is left thinking, "One less what?" Many are confused about what HPV is and how it leads to cervical cancer. One UW sophomore stated, "I think the power of the press overtakes the lack of research on the long-term effects. I feel it caused me to fall into the trap of following the press. So I got the vaccine." However, she later went on to say, "Everyone gets cancer now. It makes me feel better to know that I am doing everything I can to protect myself." Protecting yourself is exactly this drug's intended purpose. However, with a lack of information from Gardasil, women still don't understand that taking the vaccine could be a life or death decision when considering the possibility of cervical cancer, which leads to 18 percent of cancer deaths in women per year. If Gardasil was marketed by showing the public how much more important it is to protect against cancer rather than worry about the numbers and ages of sexually-active people, it would be clear that human welfare is more important than poorly argued moral objections in this case. If the research around Gardasil proves to be effective over the long-term, there is no excuse not to get vaccinated. The argument that the drug promotes a promiscuous lifestyle does not hold any logical reasoning. Every woman, virgin or not, should have this protection. With as many deaths from cancer in America as there are, protecting yourself from a disease should not be a debate — it should be a given. Sara Biersteker (Biersteker@wisc.edu) is a sophomore studying English.
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HPV vaccine begs question: ‘Why not?’
September 30, 2007
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