Both my daughters are young adults and I know at least one of them has gotten the vaccine. But I would not have advised them to do it.

If you even just listen to the ads, you learn that the shots are no guarantee against cancer and not even all strains of the HPV virus are immunized against. So no, there is no infallible promise to be "one less" even with the vaccine. And has been pointed out, there are no longer-term studies to show that it is safe or even effective decades down the road.

Cervical cancer is serious, of course, but it is one of the least invasive and most easily treated cancers, and most people with enough awareness to get this vaccine are probably getting regular pap smears as well. So why the big push for this vaccine? Could it be that the pharmaceutical companies have figured out that they have half the populace to frighten into compliance as a client base? (I'm just asking.)

Why should people who don't want this be put on the defensive? The companies who invent new drugs and chemicals that they want to introduce into our lives should be the ones subjected to tough questioning.

Point 1: you say there is no infallable guarantee that your daughters would be one less. That is the same for ANY vaccine you take. You may never be exposed to measles or rubella... but enough people are to make it worthwhile. In the US, 2.5 million women a year have abnormal paps from HPV. That is a HUGE number which could be GREATLY reduced by this vaccine.

Point 2: Cervical cancer is easily treatable??? I assume you have never been treated for it? Hysterectomy, loss of fertility, major surgery, tandom and ovoid radiation treatment. Only someone who has never experienced this cancer would call it easy or least invasive. This cancer kills. The treaments are major. Also, even the pre-cancerous lesions are not "easy". I have never had a patient enjoy a colposcopy, LEEP, cold knife cone, or any other treatment for the precancerous lesions. Your statement was simply ignorant and callous.

As two the third point.. of course the drug companies will make money. This is America after all and no one asks you to do your job for free... whether its preventing cancer or picking up up the garbage. Let me tell you how much people that have no financial gain believe in this medicine. I am an Army OBGYN. We offer this shot to the daughters of our soldiers. It is free for them. It costs our budget a lot of money. The Army will never see the financial benefit to this. By the time the cancer is prevented, these daughters would no longer be military health care beneficiaries. Some one else would be paying for their cancer and pre-cancer treatments. People are so quick to suspect this is some scheme between doctors and drug companies to line our pockets. Perhaps its our own fault that we lost some of the trust we once held along the way. We believe in this vaccine enough to invest millions of dollars in its distribution at no financial gain to ourselves. It is our duty as healers to offer this cancer prevention opportunity. A vaccine for a cancer is nothing less than a medical marvel. My patients get it. My sisters get it. My daughters get it. I recommend yours do to.

"Cervical cancer is serious, of course, but it is one of the least invasive and most easily treated cancers, and most people with enough awareness to get this vaccine are probably getting regular pap smears as well. So why the big push for this vaccine?"

wow. I had to have a hysterectomy before I was 30 as a result of contracting HPV *from my husband.* I would have given almost *anything* to have had the option of receiving this vaccine at the appropriate age and reducing the likelihood of my having cervical cancer.

Although the vaccine is not effective against all strains of HPV, it doesn't have to be. What they were looking for is a vaccine effective against the strains of HPV most likely to cause cervical cancer. Many of the other strains of HPV are not as dangerous and are the cause of such things like the common wart. In addition, vaccines are effective for quite a while since vaccines rely on what is called the secondary immune response. Secondary immune responses rely on memory cells that are able to produce the right antibody to fight the virus/bacteria/antigen. These memory cells stick around for quite a while in your body.

Have you ever had an abnormal pap test and had to get a biopsy? I'd get the vaccine just to cut down on the chance that I'd ever have to go through THAT again.

Sure the vaccine isn't 100%, not by a long shot, but why wouldn't you want to reduce the risk of ANY cancer to your daughters with a vaccine that since they are of the right age is covered by insurance? Yes cervical cancer is one of the more treatable cancers, but it's CANCER. the implications of getting it are huge. People DIE from it at young ages.

Thank you for your comments. I would never wish to minimize anyone's suffering with cervical cancer or any other condition. I did fear that my remark would have been taken that way, and wish I could have thought of a way to phrase it better. My point was more that, whenever you give a relatively new vaccine or other medical treatment to millions of people, there are likely going to be side effects, some of them serious. Even, perhaps, some of them fatal. In the rush to protect against a known danger, we need to ask whether the benefits or level of protection achieved outweigh the possible new harms that could occur. That's the kind of consideration I'm hoping people will give to any new treatments that are developed.

I read a study a couple of years ago that concluded that, if not for vaccinations, something like 45% of adults over the age of 18 in the Western world never would have made it to adolescence.

You are playing with your daughter's life. I hope you're comfortable with that.