Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Despite outcry from parents of girls who have received the HPV vaccine Gardasil, and criticism about the vaccine’s effectiveness from one of its own creators, this month the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed its use for boys. This follows a similar recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Critics of the vaccine, which has been linked to thousands of complaints of serious adverse side effects, are left to wonder why their voices are not being heard.

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A new study published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine indicates girls who receive HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines like Gardasil and Cervarix may overestimate the amount of protection the drug offers. According to the report, funded by the National Institutes of Health, some girls think they no longer have to practice safe sex after receiving the vaccination, or that they are protected from all types of HPV or protected from HPV indefinitely. In fact, vaccines such as Gardasil only protect against four of hundreds of types of HPV, and the vaccine’s effectiveness diminishes after about five to seven years.

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A writer on the blog site buzzle.com, a news and information clearinghouse website, recently posted an article urging parents to use caution when making a choice about the Gardasil vaccine. The mother of an 11-year-old girl, author Anastacia Mott Austin says young girls receiving the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine are like “guinea pigs,” because the vaccine has not been properly tested for long-range consequences on a large sample of girls in its target age group. The vaccine is currently recommended by the FDA for girls beginning as young as age 9, through about age 26, for the prevention of cervical cancer.

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A recent lecture presented by Southern Methodist University’s Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, in collaboration with SMU’s Department of Anthropology, examined the ethical questions of pharmaceutical company Merck’s marketing of its Gardasil vaccine. The drug, fast-tracked for approval in 2006 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was aggressively marketed as a preventive for cervical cancer.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of the Gardasil vaccine for the prevention of anal cancer. Previously, the drug was approved only for use in girls and young women, for the prevention of cervical cancer. Gardasil targets the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer. Recent studies have also show the virus can cause anal cancer.

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An advisory panel to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to decide by the end of the year whether it will recommend expanding the use of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, for use in boys and young men. The drug, which targets the Human Papillomavirus and is currently recommended for use in girls and young women for the prevention of cervical cancer, is currently approved, but not recommended, for young men to prevent genital warts.

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SM Mohammed Idris, president of the Consumers Association of Penang, recently wrote an opinion piece for the Malaysia Kini website, asking that the government reconsider its decision to vaccinate all 13-year-old girls in the country with Gardasil or Cervarix. According to the column, the country’s Ministry of Health (MOH) will spend RM 150 million annually for the vaccinations, which will affect about 300,000 girls. Idris warns the vaccine is “unnecessary, unscientific and unsafe.”

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently rescinded its controversial and, some argued, discriminatory requirement that all girls and women ages 11 to 26 immigrating to the United States receive at least one injection of Gardasil, Merck’s human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

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The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which informs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on vaccine use and policy, declined to advocate for Gardasil’s systematic and widespread use in boys and men. The human papilloma virus, or HPV, does not present the same risks of cancer in males as it does in females, but it can lead to the development genital warts.

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