Last time I checked out Gardasil it was a HPV vaccine and not a cervical cancer vaccine. It protects against 4 strands of HPV only 2 of which cause cervical cancer. Also, there are other things that cause cervical cancer besides HPV even though it is the leading cause I don’t understand how they can market the vaccine as a cervical cancer vaccine.. Any one have any insight?
Claim* sorry..
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There are medical and political reasons why Gardasil is marketed as a cervical cancer vaccine:
1. Medical: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a key feature of the pathogenesis (development/evolution) of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer mortality has declined in the U.S. due to Pap smears, but recent reports suggest that testing for HPV may be better than Pap smears as a screening tool. Vaccination against HPV pathogens is not unreasonable to market at a cervical cancer vaccine because this kind of tumor is considered primarily a sexually transmitted disease that may develop years later.
2. Political: It is much easier to stimulate public interest/acceptance of a medication to prevent cancer than to prevent an STD. Look into the political turmoil over Gardasil between Texas’ governor and the legislature — many were suggesting that routine use of this vaccine would promote promiscuity. That’s not a good way to sell this drug for Merck.
Because of the politically charged nature of discussing STDs, Merck also chose to only market this as a cervical cancer vaccine. HPV infection may also cause head & neck cancer from oral sex, but that’s not mentioned to the general public. Gardasil may have the added benefit of preventing these tumors as well.
From my standpoint, Gardasil is a significant breakthrough particularly because it prevents the tumor from developing in the first place. Cervical and head&neck cancer may require surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or sometimes all three treatments. If Gardasil means I don’t have to treat as many people for cervical cancer in the first place, it’s a major step forward.
Because it can prevent cervical cancer caused by those strains of HPV, which as you stated, is the leading cause. One less, one less. Cancers are caused by all kinds of things. A simple vaccine against one cause is of course marketed strongly because our pharmecutical companies are fairly unregulated and allowed to direct market to the public. They call it a cervical cancer vaccine because more people pay attention to that than an HPV vaccine. It’s a classic advertising move.
If I developed a cure for half of all types of cancer, even if I couldn’t cure 100% i would still get to call it a cure. But somewhere in the fine print I would still have to mention that it could not cure all types of cancer or was effective only 50% of the time.
I can see where the confusion lies but if I recall the commercials and the ads correctly, I think that the claim is against the most common types of HPV which have been shown to cause most of the cervical cancers. It’s a ‘preventative’ vaccine.
And I believe that HPV is the only thing that may lead to cervical cancer (I heard this somewhere, I could be wrong).
Money. Gardasil is a marketing machine.
Semantics. It is a cervical cancer vaccine. The key word is "a". This means there can be more vaccines. It is not "the" cervical cancer vaccine, which would infer that it prevents all cases of cervical cancer.
They say "it is a cervical cancer vaccine" because of logic.
It vaccinates against HPV strands that could lead to cervical cancer. Therefore, it vaccinates against some cases of cervical cancer and is a cervical cancer vaccine.
A marketing ploy, so you’ll pay the hefty price for it.
HPV is one of the leading precursors to cervical cancer so in a round about away, it does prevent cervical cancer by protecting you from some of the most common and dangerous genital HPV types. However, just because you have HPV doesn’t mean that you will automatically develop cervical cancer – it’s possible but not likely. Prevention is the key issue here. What’s known is that some strains of HPV are more likely to lead to cervical cancer than others and I’d personally would rather not play the odds and just get the vaccine. Also low risk HPV – If I remember correctly those other two strands – can lead to cell changes that can cause genital warts.
Key points- it helps prevent infection that is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer
from the CDC,"at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. By age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection. About 6.2 million Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year"
PS – many private insurances are now covering the vaccine so check your insurance. If you don’t have insurance, you can apply for free shots through the pharmeceutical company; they are covering many people at the OB/GYN office i work at…
some marketing yes but preventing something – i’d do it; I sure as heck didn’t enjoy my colposcopies and cryotherapy a few years ago (necessary but a shot would’ve been better)
HPV is Human Papilomma Virus and it can cause cervical cancer. It has 4 strains of the virus in the vaccine (tetravalent).
Yes, there are many other things that cause cancer but now there is one less if you choose to use it. Your choice.
Because the drug companies want to make money and the dangers of cervical cancer scare women who are at very low risk of acquiring HPV into getting the vaccine.
I’m too old to get it, but I can bet that my gyno would have tried to talk me into it if I was 2 years younger even though I’ve been married for 3 years and my husband and I have never been with anyone but each other. It’s not even possible for me to have HPV. It’s just hype and marketing by the drug companies.