Should Your Daughter Receive the HPV Vaccine?

• “Yes”

  

  “All Pre-Teen and Young Teen Girls Should be Vaccinated Against HPV”

• “Objection”

  

  “The Risks Outweigh the Benefits”
  

All Pre-Teen and Young Teen Girls Should be Vaccinated Against HPV

American Council on Science and Health

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Recommend (1) Comments (11)

Aside from cost, there is no valid reason NOT to get it--and of course, the cost becomes trivial when put in context with the potential benefits and future costs averted. There are two vaccines marketed worldwide, except in the U.S., only Merck's quadrivalent Gardasil has been approved by the FDA. (GSK's Cervarix is available elsewhere). Both have been clinically tested over the course of almost a decade, and toxicity and adverse effects have been very uncommon, while serious/severe ones are rare.

On the other hand, infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) is very common. In the United States, about 11,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year. Almost 4,000 women die of this disease each year. However, about 6 million new cases of genital HPV infection occur each year, including infections with all the different types. About three-quarters of these infections occur in the 15--24 year age group. There are many different strains of HPV, of which two types, HPV-16 and HPV-18--cause about 70% of all cervical cancers. HPV infection is also causally linked to genital warts in both genders. The HPV types involved in causing genital warts are types 6 and 11. It is not known precisely how many of the millions of infections are caused by these pathogenic types.

Next Argument

"Yes" ACSH

• All Pre-Teen and Young Teen Girls Should be Vaccinated Against HPV
  1
• Most Women Infected with HPV are Unaware of the Infection
  1
• Reducing the Pool of Infected Women Would Lower Rates of Transmission
  1

"Yes" Partnership for Prevention

• This Vaccine Will Save Lives
  0
• The Vaccine is Safe
  0
• Don't Withhold Vaccines to Influence Behavior
  0

"No" Sigrid Fry-Revere

• HPV Is Not as Big a Threat as Some People Think
  3
• Deaths from HPV-Related Cancers Are Highly Preventable
  0
• The HPV Vaccine Is Not as Effective as Most People Think
  3
• The Vaccine Could Create a False Sense of Security
  2
• Need for HPV Vaccination Likely to Be Eclipsed by Other Developments
  0
• HPV Vaccination Does Little to Promote the Common Good
  0
• The Principle of Unintended Consequences
  1

Most Objections

• All Pre-Teen and Young Teen Girls Should be Vaccinated Against HPV
  1
• Most Women Infected with HPV are Unaware of the Infection
  1
• Reducing the Pool of Infected Women Would Lower Rates of Transmission
  1

HPV Shot For Your Daughter?

• Yes
• No

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