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The Cancer Debate
Should Cervical Cancer Vaccines be Mandatory for Young Girls?

Gardasil, the first vaccine for cervical cancer has been on the market for over a year, yet the debate on whether or not to vaccinate still wages on. Unfortunately the vaccine is only effective for women ages nine through 26, who haven't been exposed to the disease. While older teens and women in their twenties can be vaccinated with a catch up drug, the vaccine is most effective on preteens ages nine through 11.

Gardasil works by stopping the two strains of HPV (types 16 and 18) most commonly associated with cervical cancer and genital warts. These along with other strains of HPV are usually transmitted sexually. The idea is to vaccinate girls at a young age before sexual contact. And that is where the debate heats up.

Health officials are split on this issue; some are proponents of mandatory vaccinations of all girls, while others think that this choice should be left up to parents and doctors of individual patients. However, Merck, the company who manufactures Gardasil, is sponsoring campaigns in several states to make the vaccine mandatory. Since Gardasil is the only cervical cancer vaccine on the market, they stand to make any money they are currently donating back in a heartbeat, if the bills pass. Merck may not have the monopoly for long. Cervarix is another vaccine already approved by the EU, and now under review with the FDA. It may be available in the US as early as next year.

Merck aren't the only ones in favor of this mandatory vaccine. They have the Academy of Pediatrics and the FDA on their side as well. The Center for Disease Control has also confirmed the effectiveness of this drug. And let's not forgot the most important beneficiaries, the children. Last year 10,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4,000 women died in the US alone. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of women contract the disease each year. Gardasil and Cervarix are proven to prevent the most common strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer. The children of the world deserve to be protected from this fate.

Not everyone feels that way though. Since HPV is most commonly transmitted sexually, some opponents of the drug say that the vaccine gives young girls the green light to be promiscuous. Some parents don't want to think about vaccinating their kids against sexually transmitted diseases at such a young age. But the key is to get to them before they have sex. If parents wait until their child is15, 16 or 17 they maybe too late. And while there is a vaccine against HPV, which causes cervical cancer and genital warts, girls are still vulnerable to other STDs and pregnancy. It is up to parents to talk with their children about these other risks, and ways to protect themselves; so that young people know that this vaccine is not a free sex pass.

More concerning than promiscuous teenagers, this is a relatively new product. Although the short term side effects are minimal, soreness in the vaccination area and flu like symptoms are the most common and typically mild, there is no data on the long term effects. Many opponents of mandatory vaccination think we should wait until we know what, if any long term effect this drug will have on young girls.

Still we have to hold out hope. A vaccine against cancer is a major medical breakthrough. Perhaps there is hope for vaccines against other kinds of cancer and maybe even a cure. Drugs like Gardasil and Cervarix maybe the gateway to a cancer free future.

Learn more about this author, Isabel Whitaker.
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