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HPV Vaccine Fact Sheet 4/5/2007 A quick look at the issues raised by a mandated vaccine The Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine builds immunity against the two strains of HPV that lead to 70 percent of cervical cancer cases in the United States.
An estimated 3,700 U.S. women died from cervical cancer in 2006, according to the National Cancer Institute. To put this figure in perspective, the flu virus kills over 36,000 people every year in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control. The flu vaccine is not mandatory.
State legislation being introduced to mandate the vaccine for young girls prohibits any female student from enrolling in the sixth grade unless she has received the HPV vaccine.
The “opt-out” clause of these bills puts the burden on parents to find a way to object to their children receiving the vaccine.
Texas was the first state to mandate the HPV vaccine for young girls. Some Texas private schools follow the state's mandated vaccine list but don't accept the opt-out provisions, whether the state allows for them or not. Some of these schools have expelled children because they didn't get the mandated vaccines as set out by the state.
HPV is spread only through sexual intercourse; no child is going to be infected with HPV by sitting in a classroom.
Merck & Co., Inc., the vaccine's developer, will reap millions of dollars if states mandate the vaccine (a three-injection regimen costs upwards of $360).
The vaccine is thought to be effective for up to five years, after which time its efficacy is unknown. Booster shots may be required. Mandating that 11-12 year old girls receive the vaccine presumes these girls will become sexually active before they turn 17. This means that girls may end up getting the vaccine twice, needlessly.
The American College of Pediatricians released a statement on January 22, 2007 opposing state mandates of the HPV vaccine, arguing that parents have the right to decide whether their young children will be vaccinated against a disease that only can be contracted through sexual intercourse. Clinical trials of the HPV vaccine involved people who were pre-screened. People with medical conditions weren't included. State mandates would require girls with medical conditions that were not included in the trials to take the vaccine. We don't know what kind of effect the vaccine may have on the general population. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a nonprofit watchdog organization created in the early 1980s to prevent vaccine injuries, states that negative side effects from the vaccine reported since July 2006 include severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision and loss of consciousness during what appear to be seizures.
An increase in the number of required vaccines for children has co-existed with increases in a range of childhood disabilities since the 1980s. NVIC president Barbara Loe Fisher reports: “In the 1980s, U.S. children got 23 doses of seven vaccines by age six. Today, they get 48 doses of 14 vaccines in the same period. And during the time that vaccine doses have doubled, there's been an increase in the number of children with autism, attention deficit and hyperactive disorder, learning disabilities, asthma, and diabetes, in which vaccines could be a contributing factor."
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