Posted
by Bethany Jones
August 4, 2008 at 8:09 p.m.
"I Want To Be One Less."
Since I'm going to be spending a significant amount of time in Asia over the next few years, I figured it would be a good idea to get vaccinated for Hepatitis A. After all, I'd hate to order a salad somewhere in Beijing and end up diseased. That would make me a sad panda.So I headed over to the base clinic and asked to receive the shot.While there, the nurse asked me if I'd also like to receive the HPV vaccine."No."I knew the question would come up because the Air Force sends me a little orange postcard every month that says, "you have 30 days to come into the clinic and receive the HPV vaccine.""Well," the nurse told me, "you know, a lot of people think this vaccine is just for people who have sex but HPV can also be hereditary and transferred through skin to skin contact and can be affected by feminine hygiene."(Wait...so was he saying that if I don't clean myself thoroughly, I'll "get" HPV? What?)Over the course of the next five minutes, while receiving my HepA injection, I listened to this man ramble on about the dangers of HPV and how my genetics could have it in for me.I promised him I'd do some research (not bothering to address the fact that I did a 15 page research project on the Gardasil vaccine my last semester of college, or that I participated in a clinical research study on the link between HPV, cervical cancer, and who is most likely to contract either), and I went on my merry way.Now, my problem is not that doctors advocate the vaccine, but couldn't it be done without lying about my chances of getting HPV to begin with? Couldn't the nurse have just said "you get HPV from sexual contact and even though you're married, your husband is a soldier and could easily cheat on you and give you the disease"? Wouldn't it have been easier to accuse me of being married to someone unfaithful than to make up a story about how I could "catch" this from shaking someone's hand? (Hmm, I bet I could get AIDS from a toilet seat, too....)My own concerns lie with the facts that doctors are not sure [how long the vaccine provides immunity for][1], that the vaccine can cause [fainting][2], and that the entire marketing scheme of the vaccine is geared toward making people believe that they are suddenly "safe" from cancer.While HPV is responsible for about 70% of cervical cancers, it's still completely possible to develop cervical cancer WITHOUT contracting HPV. I'm not anti-vaccine in any way, but I am anti-propaganda or scaring people into getting vaccinated for something they aren't at risk for because Americans are terrified of the word "cancer."I'm also curious to find out what, if any, long term effects result from this vaccine. Kinda' like when we gave out the Oral Polio vaccine until we realized that - oops! - we were actually GIVING people Polio. Or ten years after the introduction of the Varicella vaccine that - oops! - the shot could increase your risk of developing [Shingles][3] as an adult. Then again, maybe I'm just hesitant about this vaccine because the entire marketing slogan - "One Less" - is grammatically incorrect and should be "One Fewer." [1]: http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002743.html [2]: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/63651.php [3]: http://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/May2002/VarVaxIncrShingElder.htm
and 4 others
Comments
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El_Borak (Bill Hoyt) says…
If a person lost their last one, would they be one-less?
BadEnglishMajor (Bethany Jones) says…
Only if they could kill seven with one blow.
smerdyakov (anonymous) says…
I'm not anti-vaccine but definitely suspicious. The one year I sprang for the flu vaccine being offered on the cheap at ghetto Dillon's is the one year I got the flu. Full blown, sick for a week style.I can understand why people who consistently get the flu go for the vaccine. But I've evidently been blessed with a pretty badass immune system, and given my experience with the flu I have to wonder every time I hear the mantra "get vaccinated, it does not give you the flu." I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure my understanding of vaccines is correct-- that a certain percentage of those vaccinated will inevitably get the very thing they're trying to prevent, since you're injecting a weakened, yet living, virus into your body. I understand that, on the average, if everyone got vaccinated the far fewer people will get sick on the whole. But why not just say that, instead of insisting the vaccine is faultless?
DOTDOT (anonymous) says…
Viral marketing.
DOTDOT (anonymous) says…
And most Health "pros" get their propaganda (and, I suspect, kickbacks) from studies done by guess who? That's right. Merck. (Or "The Merck", as it rolls of the tongue since I moved here).
alm77 (anonymous) says…
I'm not anti-vacine either, but I am anti-guinea pig. I refused to give my kids Rotosheild ( http://www.vaccinetruth.org/rotasheil... ) and that was a good decision. I'm also pissed off about Varicella vac and the fact that my kids are required to have it for school. (we almost home schooled because of this issue), not to mention the vast difference between the number of vaccinations we received as children and the number required now. All three of my kids missed their scheduled vaccines between the ages of 12 months and 5 years due to my fear of the autism link and my lack of faith in all the newly recommended vaccines. Not to mention I've come to the conclusion that their immune systems can develop themselves when we provide a good diet and don't over sanitize our home.
BadEnglishMajor (Bethany Jones) says…
Alm, you can refuse the Chickenpox vaccine for school if you get a religious waiver stating that your religion is opposed to abortion. Because the Varicella vaccine is made with human fetal cells (MRC-5, http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pink...) you can refuse it on religious grounds.
alm77 (anonymous) says…
Good to know!! I've still got one kid who could use that information. Thanks!!
matt (Matt Armstrong) says…
This is an issue I take pretty seriously, so forgive the long windedness.I've started to notice that people who begin statements with "I'm not anti-vaccine, but..." are about to drop some anti vaccine rhetoric. The "rambling" that your doctor was doing was because it makes no sense to some people, myself and doctors included, when someone refuses a tested, safe vaccine that will protect you against a virus that can lead to cancer. No one suggested that you weren't clean, or that your husband could bring it home to you, that's you putting words in their mouths. The reason that they listed all the ways that you can get HPV is because, um, those are all ways that you can get HPV. From a nurse or Doctor's point of view, you chose to take your chances. Would you say refuse a Herpes Simplex vaccination just because you're married? Because a lot of kids that get cold sores would disagree. It would've made for a much more enlightening trip to the doctor's office if instead of just saying "No.", you would've shared some of your findings from that 15 page long paper. But then again, you didn't share them with us in a captive audience, so how telling could they be?I've also addressed the comment boards tone on this. Please refer to my latest blog entry for those thoughts (it's Hate The Player, btw).
BadEnglishMajor (Bethany Jones) says…
Matt, HPV is not hereditary, nor does it have anything to do with "feminine hygiene," and the only way it can be spread from "skin to skin contact" is if it's a hand to a penis. You can't get it from shaking someone's hand, and you can't get it just because your aunt Helen had it. The nurse flat-out lied to try to scare me into getting the shot.Me getting the HPV vaccine makes no more sense than me getting the Anthrax vaccine. I'm simply not at risk. While the Anthrax vaccine is great for soldiers who are deploying to secret locations, it's simply not something the entire population needs. And I've learned over the past few years of parenting that if you're going to refuse a vaccine, you are not obligated to explain yourself to a doctor or a nurse or to anyone else. Me explaining why I don't want the vaccine would simply be a waste of time since the nurse would not be changing his mind.
matt (Matt Armstrong) says…
You're right about the hereditary bit, that's for sure. But you can get it from shaking someone's hand or any other casual contact, the same way you can get a cold, or the flu, or any other number of active virus'. Of course it's not nearly as common as sexual transmission, but it's always a possibility. No matter what your activity in the sexual public, that can't be denied.I'm not saying that you should have gotten the vaccination personally, but I take issue with the negative attitude towards vaccination in general that this exposes. Some reports state that 50% of active men and women have been exposed to HPV infection at some point in their lives, ones that can lead to various cancers in the future. Is that a contamination rate that we're comfortable with?
BadEnglishMajor (Bethany Jones) says…
I have NEVER heard a report that says 50% of people have or have gotten HPV. Do you have a source for that? The nurse I saw on Monday said 1 in 1000, and the team of doctors I work with for the UH HPV study have told me 20-25% of women.While you can get certain strands of HPV from shaking someone's hand if he/she has an active outbreak on their hand, I was under the impression that the strands of HPV that the vaccine protects against are only transmitted sexually, not through casual contact. Do you have access to a document that says differently? Gardasil protects against strands 6, 11, which cause genital warts, and 16, and 18, which have been linked to cervical cancer but do not cause genital warts.I completely agree with you that if someone knows he/she is going to be sexually active with someone who could potentially be a carrier, then they should get vaccinated, if they have evaluated the possible side effects and are comfortable with that. I do think it's wrong to push this vaccine on people who are not at risk for it, as I already mentioned in the comments of your blog.
matt (Matt Armstrong) says…
The 50% was the easiest mean number I could find. Trying to find more than one source that has a repeated, precise, number is hard, because there have been so many studies. These all refer to different case studies, but the number swings from 25% in girls alone to 75% of the general populace. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/artic...
alm77 (anonymous) says…
Matt, I say I'm not anti-vaccine because I'm NOT anti-vaccine. Vaccines eradicated small pox for goodness sakes, but I'm not sure that freakin' Chicken Pox needs a cure, especially when it may mean my kids might develop it as adults when it's potentially deadly (a friend of mine lost his 25 year old wife to chicken pox). I say, let the kids get it when they're little as a rite of passage and be relieved that they'll never get it when it's dangerous as an adult. There is NOT enough testing on vaccines and the currently recommended schedule needs to be changed. Then I'll be more comfortable with the whole process.
mwhitey (anonymous) says…
I agree that it is annoying when someone in the Medical field portrays a correlation study as fact...it makes me think of my last trip to the dentist where they told me that gingivitis and of course not flossing enough caused some kind of cancer.But Bethany, come one, is your point really that you declined a vacinnation of something that probably causes 70% of cervical cancers because the doctor was a little misguided and it could cause fainting? Sheesh.Someone should find the article about the guy in indonesia called mr tree trunk arms or something...his hpv spread from his hands all the way up to his arms coating it in a sinewy shell of sorts. Let's go shake his hand...
alm77 (anonymous) says…
Or maybe she refused it because she and her husband are faithful and are currently STD free... I know it's a rare concept, but there are still a few of us left.
lori (anonymous) says…
I'm betting that Mr. Treetrunk-Arms does not have a viral subtype of HPV that is prevented with the vaccine. The type of of HPVs that cause cervical and oral cancers like mucous membranes, not the dryer skin on exposed surfaces like your arms.
TheEleventhStephanie (anonymous) says…
I am married, and kind of anti-vaccine. Still, I recognize the potential benefits of the vaccine and while I believe my husband and I are both faithful, I also realize it's not a perfect world. After seeing promo material for Gardisil in his office, I inquired with my gyno about the vaccine. He told me I'm not at risk. So go figure. I guess they aren't all pushers.