HPV Vaccine

In response to Through the Lens, "Thought on the HPV vaccine"

Although I agree that Perry’s motives should be questioned, I dispute your sentiment that he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Taking into account Perry’s history, including the Father’s Day Massacre where Perry vetoed 78 bills from one session, many of which dealt with health care, Texans can’t help but to question his motives.

I feel that there is a general lack of knowledge on the subject among the public. Media, doctors, scientists and our government have portrayed HPV and the HPV vaccine in so many different ways, citizens can have difficulty making an informed decision. I agree with your view that the decision to vaccinate or not should be a decision left to the individual. Education in essential to making an informed decision and those responsible for educating the public have failed in their task. HPV is not a disease that spreads by a cough and there should be no mandatory requirement to take the vaccine.

In reality, HPV is a complex virus. Some studies suggest that at least 50% of sexually active men and women contract HPV. Whereas some people’s immune system is able to ward off the virus, other people are not as fortunate.

Females who contract HPV could develop cervical cancer, OR they could develop genital warts. It is less publicized that there are numerous strains of the HPV virus. Some strains develop cancer and others develop warts. The HPV vaccine doesn’t contain ALL of the strains, therefore a female receiving the vaccine is not completely protected from the virus.

Furthermore, with all of the controversy surrounding the state sponsored vaccinations, we have forgotten to take into account treatment for males. Females contract the virus from males therefore males obviously harbor the virus, sometimes without any symptoms. Unfortunately, males can not receive the vaccine, so they simply keep spreading, often unknowingly. In truth, the medical society does not fully understand the capabilities of the disease in males and as a result there are still many kinks to be worked out.

More info: http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/