Feb 21, 2007 7:49 pm US/Pacific
HPV Vaccine's Side Effects Come To Light
by Kim Mulvihill, M.D.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
Federal health officials presented new data Wednesday on the adverse reactions of a vaccine for human papilloma virus that also works to prevent some cancer in women.
The vaccine, Gardasil, acts to prevent cervical cancer by blocking certain strains of the human papilloma virus.
Hundreds of thousands of girls and young women have gotten at least one dose of Gardasil since the FDA approved it last June.
Dr. Barbara Moscicki is a pediatrician at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center and has studied Gardasil. The vaccine represents a breakthrough, says Dr. Moscicki, and that "this vaccine is so exciting that we can actually make a huge change in cancers worldwide."
Now, there's new information about the three-dose vaccine's adverse side effects.
The Centers for Disease Control collected more than 500 complaints since the vaccine's approval last June, including: soreness at the injection site, fainting or dizziness and fever or nausea.
And, while Gardasil is considered safe, the vaccine is still surrounded by controversy.
Dr. Moscicki said, "We need to make the vaccine better than it is. It still only protects against 70 percent of invasive cancers. It doesn't protect 100 percent, and isn't that what we would like?"
There's also a concern brewing over making the vaccine mandatory for 11- and 12-year-old girls in order to attend school.
At least 20 states are considering it, including California. Critics complain the action preempts parental choice and may promote promiscuity.
One mother in San Francisco told CBS 5 HealthWatch that she's "very much for abstinence. I think that should be emphasized much more because with abstinence you have no need for the drugs and no exposure to the virus and I think that really does solve the problem."
However, 44 percent of teens in a recent survey report they've already had intercourse or oral sex by the end of 10th grade, and that young girls who have sex too soon face a risk that a vaccine can't prevent.
Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Feisher, a psychologist at the UCSF, conducted the survey and says girls are reporting more negative consequences about having sex before they are emotionally ready, and that they are "feeling guilty, feeling bad about themselves and being used."
As for the California legislation that would make the vaccine mandatory for school girls, it's too early to tell if it's going to become law.
However, it's clearly time for parents to have an honest and frank talk with their teens about sex.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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