One good reason to complain about only vaccinating women is the possibility of male-to-male transmission. But he's so fixating on "responsibility" that he can't even bring himself to advocate for gay men; instead he uses that as a hammer to bash all men as irresponsible: "But the argument for vaccinating gay men isn't just that they might benefit. It's that vaccinating women won't help them. They can't count on somebody else to take care of the problem." All men are at risk from HPV. The study recommends vaccinating only guys, which effectively leaves men at risk for HPV, which can develop painful lesions AND even cancer in men, though less frequently than in women. Instead of complaining about how men are being left without protection against this, Saletan is blaming men who haven't even had an opportunity to make a choice.

Merck is spending money to benefit 99% of the population. When the uncountable, elusive 1% gay population makes themselves available for testing, Merck will surely sign up to take money from them as well.