You know it’s a good week when it starts off with the Supreme Court on your side. How cool was it that the Court ruled that the EPA could regulate carbon dioxide emissions as pollutants under the Clean Air Act? That’s huge – or it at least has the potential to be, if the EPA actually reconsiders its refusal to regulate, now that it can’t make the excuse that it doesn’t have the power to do so.
But then, I looked at the metro section of the Post this morning and saw the heading “Council Tentatively Backs Mandatory HPV Vaccine.” I could tell right away that this is the same vaccine that keeps popping up in commercials with young women saying “I could be one less,” referring to statistics of cervical cancer, which can be caused in part by the HPV virus. I felt queasy the first time I saw the ad and queasy again now with this headline, and I’ll try to form the correct words as to why:
1) First and foremost, even if the vaccine were perfectly safe (which it isn’t) and completely affordable (which it isn’t), no one medical company should have that kind of power over public health, such that a spankin new vaccine whose long-term effects have yet to be tested is made mandatory for all young women as young as 9 in the District or any other state (so far Texas is the only one to mandate it, with many others considering similar legislation). Merck & Co., the makers of this vaccine (Gardasil), are the same folks that brought us Vioxx, which was similarly swiftly approved by the FDA only later to be recalled because of increased risk of heart attack and stroke associated with long-term use.
2) The target audience of this vaccine is the population with the least voice and the least ability to finance the vaccine – young women, and especially disadvantaged young women. The fact that the vaccine is marketed for and proposed to be mandated for women specifically automatically screams “sexist” to me, since the virus is carried by both women and men. This is yet another example of women being forced to carry all of the blame and the burden for their sexual health with no regard for the man’s role in the transmission of the disease. Moreover, the vast majority of cervical cancer cases are among the populations that can least afford it, and Merck has made only vague statements about taking measures to ensure its availability to low-income populations and in developing nations. The vaccine costs $360, one of the largest price tags that exists for a vaccine – I hate to imagine how much cash Merck would be raking in if the vaccine were made mandatory throughout the District alone, let alone the US or internationally.
3) As with any decision regarding personal health care, sexual activity, and reproductive rights, the most important factors are education and choice. Right now, the only mandatory vaccines in schools are for publicly transmissible diseases – and understandably so, in order to preserve a healthful learning environment. This would be the first mandatory vaccine for a sexually transmitted infection. For the same reason that no woman should be forcibly injected with birth control, no woman should be forcibly injected with any vaccine without full and complete knowledge of the risks, the side effects, and the options available to her in preventing the infection, and a choice in whether the vaccine is right for her. And no, I don’t think an “opt-out provision” is enough.
That was longer than I intended it to be but I do think this vaccine is an extremely important issue, and I find it disturbing how readily it is being endorsed by legislators and NGOs alike. I also find that a lot of reference is made to abstinence-only groups and other conservatives opposing the legislation, which is fine, and they have their own reasons, but they certainly are not the only ones, and by no stretch is this a liberal vs. conservative or left vs. right issue.
I will be composing a letter tomorrow to Mary Cheh, my city council representative and co-sponsor of the legislation, and also to the other At-Large City Council members (including David Catania, the other co-sponsor). I welcome others’ input and feedback.