Cervical Cancer vaccine on the way?

[thartley]

How come I've not read anything about this in US News reports?

http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=750302006

[Ginafish]

thartley, I did see a report on this last week on the Today show but can't seem to search their archives. The US is aware of the vaccine, and the Senate had introduced a bill, but the argument starts when they ask who should they make the vaccine available too.
The problem is, that physicians see the most effect way of introducing the vaccine is to vaccinate young girls before they become sexually active. Which in America, means vaccinating 9-13 years. The vaccine has to be given three times over a period of six months or something like that.
On the other hand, you have people arguing, that a vaccine should not be given to young girls for a disease that is spread sexually, because then it's promoting sex at a young age. Same argument that if you give condoms in school, kids are more likely to use them.

I did find this article published Sunday, so maybe things will all work out in the end.

http://www.thestate.com/m.../news/nation/14631577.htm

Overall, I just have to say, for encompassing news, you can't rely on one source, one country, or most important, one opinion. You've got to research stuff yourself. Even then, it's hard to filter through the biased info.

[thartley]

Yeah, there could be a problem for me as I rarely watch tv news.  I'll see what else I can find on this.  Thanks for the link.  

[PK]

That is good news.

Is the vaccination something they can give to an infant?

[thartley]

I dont know yet.  I know they give Hep B vaccines to children routinely, and that Hep B is considered an \"adult\" disease.  They give it to infants to safeguard from the earliest age possible,  since bloodbourne/body fluid pathogens are not ONLY transmitted sexually.  It would be a real shame if there was a cancer vaccine that could help and prevent from an early age, but was withheld because of lifestyle judgements made by some.  There are some terrible things that happen to children everyday at the hands of adults who children are supposed to be able to trust.  If this vaccine is produced by Merck and is given the approval of the FDA, I think it could be a welcome miracle to many women and teens.

[Ginafish]

I haven't heard any discussion on giving it to infants.

 \"The number of recommended childhood vaccines has increased substantially
over the past several decades. Twenty years ago, children received 7 vaccines
routinely and up to 5 shots by 2 years of age. Today, children receive 11
vaccines routinely and as many as 20 shots by age two,\" explains Dr. Offit. As
a possible consequence of these trends, recent national surveys have found
that an increasing number of parents are concerned that infants receive too
many vaccines. from this article: http://www.prnewswire.com...047&EDATE=Jan+7,+2002

Some other concerns are the 'life span' of vaccines. For instance, tetanus shots have to be redone every ten years. I don't know the span for this new shot, but I'm hope to see something positive out of this. Maybe it'll encourage some more funds to head toward cancer research?  or std's?
Now if they'd only work on developing a cootie's shot that would keep boys and girls 'separate' until after the age of 23...