HPV Vaccine Should Not Be Mandatory, Editorial Says

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine;  Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 26 Jul 2006 - 12:00 PDT

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Although the recent FDA approval for Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil is "reason to hope" that cervical cancer and a "host of related afflictions may one day be as rare as polio," it is a "dismaying reminder of the state of our society" that CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that girls "as young as 11" receive the vaccine, a Wall Street Journal editorial says. "Not surprisingly, some people also read" ACIP's recommendation "as an unwelcome and unwarranted suggestion that everyone's young daughter is, or soon will be, sexually active and thus in need of protection," the editorial says, adding, "Might this mean that in the future, vaccination will become mandatory?" If the government "tries to take ... away" from parents and doctors the choice regarding the "age at which a particular young person may become at risk" of contracting HPV by requiring vaccination, "it will be time to argue against coercion," according to the editorial. It concludes, "For now, we can predict only that the cost of delivering cervical cancer protection to willing women and families everywhere is bound to decline as demand grows and experts develop more vaccines and simpler ways of delivering them. That will be the next great news" (Wall Street Journal, 7/21).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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