Tag Archives: gardasil

Today’s Lady News: Young Women Aren’t Completing HPV Vaccinations

Jessica WakemanMay 7, 2012 //
Today's Lady News photo
  • The amount of young women completing the three vaccinations required for the HPV vaccine is not only low, but also dropping. The journal Cancer has published a report saying young women are not completing the full series of Gardasil, which is the only way to be fully protected from the strains of HPV which lead to cervical cancer. [New York Times] 
  • Melinda Gates’ new crusade for the Gates Foundation is spreading the use of contraception worldwide to promote women’s health. But not surprisingly, the Catholic church is none too pleased about this fact. [The Daily Beast] 
  • Colorado’s House Finance Committee advanced a bill that would legalize civil unions. [Think Progress] Keep reading »

HPV Vaccine Doesn’t Make Teen Girls More Slutty, Survey Finds

Jessica WakemanDecember 27, 2011 //
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Catfight
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Today's Lady News
Today's Lady News
On boys and the HPV vaccine. Read More »
vaccine photo

Teen girls ages 15 to 19 who are vaccinated against HPV are not more likely to be sexually active, according to a survey in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Another positive finding is that sexually active girls who were vaccinated against HPV were also more likely to consistently use a condom than sexually active girls who were not. This data is directly counter to overreactive screeches from conservatives who claim that vaccinating teen girls will encourage them to have sex earlier. Hopefully this will shut them up for awhile (although I’m sure Rep. Michele Bachmann is eagerly awaiting a study to prove the HPV vaccine made a woman’s child mentally retarded as proof she’s not talking total BS). One might infer from this data that teenagers who have been exposed to the idea of protecting themselves against STDs — and, for younger teens, presumably have a parent or guardian’s support in keeping them protected —  continue to make responsible sexual decisions. Who’d have thunk? [New York Times] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: On Boys & The HPV Vaccine

Jessica WakemanNovember 7, 2011 //
Today's Lady News
  • Mandating the HPV vaccine for young boys (instead of young girls) may be an easier pill for parents to swallow because it is supposedly easier for them to think about their sons being sexually active than their daughters. Facepalm. [NPR]
  • How the worldwide SlutWalk protests have developed a divide between black women and white women. [The Root]
  • The superintendent of the San Diego school system where a lesbian couple were crowned Homecoming king and queen said that random phone callers telephoning the school to complain can STFU. [GOOD]
  • A terrorism-tracking database maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center only brings up one incident of abortion-related domestic terrorism (the 2009 murder of Dr. George Tiller) despite countless other threats and attacks on abortion clinics and abortion providers throughout the U.S. [Huffington Post] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: “The Daily Show” Schools Michele Bachmann On The HPV Vaccine

Jessica WakemanSeptember 16, 2011 //

  • Kristen Schaal was on “The Daily Show” last night as Senior Women’s Issues Correspondent addressing Rep. Michele Bachmann’s latest WTF claim that she met a woman whose child became mentally retarded from the HPV vaccine. Which, as you may have heard, the medical community says is total BS. Wear headphones and there’s imagery that’s NSFW at the end, so make sure your boss isn’t a-lurkin’! [The Daily Show]
  • Virginia may lose all 22 clinics that provide abortion. What does that mean? People who can afford to will travel up to places like New York where abortion is much more accessible. And everyone who can’t afford it? If you have an unintended pregnancy, then it sucks to be you. [New York Times]
  • Journalist Lea Goldman at Marie Claire examines the “pinkification” of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), when tons of products become pink and we’re told a portion goes to breast cancer research. But how much money do researchers actually receive — and how much of this is just opportunistic hucksterism? [Marie Claire]

Keep reading »

Gardasil’s Scare Tactic Ads Do More Harm Than Good, One Woman Says

Susannah BreslinMay 12, 2010 //

Lux Alptraum has written an intriguing piece for Jezebel, “The HPV Vaccine’s Misguided Scare Tactics.” Alptraum argues that Merck, which manufactures Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, uses scare tactics in its commercials to push women to get the HPV vaccine, thereby driving more money into Merck’s deep pockets. One commercial features an animated woman going to the gynecologist for her annual pap smear and finding out she has full-blown cervical cancer. The music is grim. The tone is doomed. An alarmist vibe permeates the tale. In fact, Alptraum says, women who get annual pap smears are highly unlikely to develop cervical cancer, if HPV is caught early. In addition, the woman in the ad is white, while the fastest growing group of women getting diagnosed with cervical cancer is Hispanic women. Alptraum isn’t against Gardasil; she got it. But we agree that terrifying women is no way to get them to pursue good gynecological health practices. Watch the ad, read the story, and decide for yourself. [Jezebel] Keep reading »

HPV: Not Just For Crotches Anymore

SimchaOctober 15, 2008 //

According to a new study, HPV is moving on up…to mouths! That’s right, just when you thought Gardasil and Cervarix solved all your problems, now you have to worry about what else you’ve been opening wide. Since the ’70s. throat cancer cases have doubled, and the research shows HPV is to blame, with 39% of all occurrences caused by the human papilloma virus. Before you go cutting your man off from his favorite foreplay, listen to this: men are 35% more likely than women to develop oral cancer from HPV. Sheesh, making a new man go downtown may be riskier than you both think! Still, there’s more bad news — as of yet, there is no way to test male genitalia for HPV or anyone’s throat to see if they’re a carrier. So, it’s a roll of the dice and doctors fear you may even be able to contract the virus from kissing. There goes all the fun! Since this throat cancer link is a new revelation, the cervical cancer vaccines haven’t been tested or proven to prevent it. So, deep throat, you might want to use a condom for oral sex or just give that random stranger a handy and call it a night! [ABC News] Keep reading »

Gardasil Required For Young Female Immigrants

Catherine StrawnOctober 1, 2008 //

If you’re a female U.S. citizen between 11 and 26 years old, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that you get the Gardasil vaccine; however, if you are a female foreigner trying to become a permanent resident of the country, it’s not just recommended you get the vaccine, it’s required. This isn’t because the U.S. government thinks that foreigners are going to infect our entire population with cervical cancer. A 1996 immigration law states that any vaccine recommended by the government for its citizens becomes mandatory for green-card applicants. Even the chairman of the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices didn’t realize this was the case when it recommended the vaccine to citizens. Keep reading »

FDA Guards Gardasil’s Market Share

SimchaJuly 1, 2008 //

So far in the states, Gardasil has been the only FDA approved vaccine for the double-whammy strain of HPV that causes cervical cancer. However, in Europe Cervarix has been kicking HPV’s butt and protecting women across the continent. While the drug has been in the FDA review process for foreva-eva, it looks like new data submitted by the makers, GlaxoSmithKline, will stall approvals now until 2009. Sheesh! What’s a girl gotta do to get some options? [Wall Street Journal]

Keep reading »

Gardasil Has Been Gettin’ Some Haters

SimchaJune 25, 2008 //

The Human Papillomavirus, aka HPV, can cause cervical cancer and genital warts. And now it’s possible that the vaccine that guards against HPV, Gardasil, may cause death. Around the world, 11 girls, as young as the age of 11, have died after receiving the shots, and about another 1,700 have reported complications which include fainting and GBS, a disorder which weakens your immune system. Since 95% of people who have HPV are asymptomatic, all in all, .002% of women with HPV die from related cases of cervical cancer. While it seems like fear mongering to support or oppose the potentially life-saving or life-threatening vaccination, getting guarded by Gardasil should clearly be a personal decision. Currently three states are making shots mandatory for adolescent girls, against the advice of the American College of Pediatrics and a researcher who worked on developing the vaccine. Sure, egalitarian vaccinations sound like a good idea in theory, but now that the results on Gardasil are in, ladies, like everything else, should be free to do what they want. Get your laws off my body! [Huffington Post and Natural News]

Keep reading »

FDA Smackdown: Cervarix vs. Gardasil

SimchaMarch 20, 2008 //

The FDA is rushing to rubber stamp Gardasil, a cervical cancer vaccine, for women ages 27-45. Initially, the miracle HPV-preventer has been well received by its intended market — women and girls ages 9-26. Due to Gardasil’s success, amounting in $1.5 billion in sales last year, its makers, Merck & Co, are looking to expand potential beneficiaries. Merck has found Gardasil to be 91% effective in women 24-45 and are pushing for FDA approval within six months. The FDA is already reviewing a similarly effective British vaccine, Cervarix, put out by GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which is currently used for women up to 55 years of age in the U.K. No matter who wins the vaccine approval race, this is good news for women. With 250,000 reported deaths from cervical cancer every year, somethin’ has gotta be done! [ Boston Globe] Keep reading »

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