Letter to the editor re: disinformation about HPV vaccine

Submitted to the Globe and Mail January 31, 2008

What is truly mind-boggling about Christie Blatchford’s column “U of T logic on HPV vaccine boggles the mind” (January 30, 2008), is the misinformation it contains. Contrary to what was written, the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, is not a “vaccine against cancer,” and we do not now know if it will “prevent 70% of cervical cancers.” This vaccine is directed against four strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) – two of which are associated with cervical cancer if they persist and cause cellular changes that go undetected in those infected. While it’s true that about 75% of women will contract an HPV infection at some point in their lifetimes, and that many will first experience this during their sexually-active university years, the students Blatchford seems so concerned about may have already had an infection, most likely with one that's not "high-risk," and, more important perhaps, will be among the 90% or so who clear an HPV infection spontaneously within two years (i.e., they have no need for treatment). Most women, even if they remain infected with one of the high-risk HPV strains covered by the vaccine need not develop cervical cancer if there is a robust and efficient Pap testing program available for detecting early cellular changes. An email circulated to U of T students would better serve their overall sexual health if it were to promote safer sex and condom use and remind young women to have regular Pap smears as a proven effective approach to prevent invasive cervical cancer. As for promoting the HPV vaccine for men, this would be to use the vaccine in a way that has not yet been approved by Canadian advisory groups and regulators. While the HPV vaccine may one day become part of the fight against cervical cancer, encouraging mass immunizations of college-age students has neither an evidence nor a public health policy base. Misinformation about the HPV vaccine appears daily in the media across North America. It’s time to look more closely at the details – and to stick to the facts.

Sincerely,

Madeline Boscoe, RN, DU
Advocacy and Special Projects Coordinator
Women’s Health Clinic

Abby Lippman, PhD
Chair, Policy Committee
Canadian Women’s Health Network

Ellen Reynolds
Director of Communications
Canadian Women's Health Network

Anne Rochon Ford
Central Coordinator
Women and Health Protection

Posted: February 6, 2008