© 2024 Western New York Public Broadcasting Association

140 Lower Terrace
Buffalo, NY 14202

Mailing Address:
Horizons Plaza P.O. Box 1263
Buffalo, NY 14240-1263

Buffalo Toronto Public Media | Phone 716-845-7000
WBFO Newsroom | Phone: 716-845-7040
Your NPR Station
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Debate Over Mandatory HPV Vaccine Spreading

By Joyce Kryszak

Buffalo, NY – Exciting news about a new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer is quickly turning controversial before some even know what it is. The drug maker and some lawmakers are pushing to make the vaccine against the Human Papillomavirus, or HPV, mandatory for school age girls.

Four thousand women die from cervical cancer each year. Still, most people never heard of HPV before last summer.

That was before drug company Merck launched it's "Tell Someone" ad campaign. What the young women in the ads were telling you is that cervical cancer is caused by a virus. A sexually transmitted virus that can be prevented with a vaccine.

Doctor Richard Judelsohn is Medical Director for the Erie County Health Department. He said the good news was initially clouded by sensitivities over the idea that the vaccine might make teenage girls promiscuous.

Judelsohn said that Merck and public health officials sat down and talked with concerned groups and those fears essentially went away. But the controversy re-ignited with the recent push by Merck and some lawmakers around the country to make the vaccine mandatory.

Judelsohn said that is not a good idea right now simply from a medical stand point.

Still, Judelsohn is enthusiastic about the vaccine. He said it has proven 100 percent effective for preventing cervical cancer. It is recommended now for girls and women ages nine to 26. He said that's why New York moved quickly to approve the vaccine for its federally funded vaccine program for children.

But a proposed law now in the assembly would make the vaccine mandatory for all girls entering school. And that is meeting new resistance from parent groups.

Judelsohn, who sits on the state's immunization advisory council, predicts that any eventual mandate would probably be optional, since it is a non-communicable disease.

Judelsohn said cost will also be a factor in passing any laws.

The vaccine currently runs about $360 for the full, three-course inoculation. But he said the prevention is far less expensive than the treatments or death, the worst possible consequence of not getting the vaccine.

Click the "listen" icon above to hear Joyce Kryszak's story now or use your podcasting software to download it to your computer or iPod.