An open letter to ERV

Dear Abbie,

From a thread at ERV:

2921

Finally it's loaded for me!
Abbie, have you seen Salty [Current - ed.]'s accusation that you've been lying to us, "*I feel it necessary to mention one more time that her recent claims that the HPV vaccine is 100% effective against cervical cancer are FALSE"

The 'her' here is you.

Posted by: Justicar [link removed] September 30, 2011 1:48 PM

2922

The main efficacy studies of the quadrivalent vaccine were conducted in young women and men (16 through 26 years of age). Among persons not previously exposed to a targeted HPV type, the trials demonstrated nearly 100% vaccine efficacy in preventing cervical precancers, vulvar and vaginal precancers, and genital warts in women caused by the four vaccine types, as well as 90% vaccine efficacy in preventing genital warts and 75% vaccine efficacy in preventing anal precancers in men.

You would think with their PhDs from Google U this crew could figure out how to find this information on their own.

Posted by: ERV September 30, 2011 1:52 PM

Please stop irresponsibly spreading dangerous falsehoods about the HPV vaccine. You and your commenters continue to misunderstand basic facts, and you are misleading people. My sources include the same as yours. Read the CDC information you quoted. Notice the phrase “caused by the four vaccine types.” The two covered strains of HPV that can lead to cervical cancer cause about 70% of cervical cancers.* So even if the vaccine is taken by people prior to any exposure (efficacy declines with age due to greater probability of having been exposed, such that the FDA recently declined GSK Merck’s request to extend approval to women 27-45) and provides lifetime protection (which has not yet been established, of course), it is still not 100% effective against cervical cancer. Under the best conditions and assumptions, it will still only protect against 70% of cervical cancers.

The CDC makes this clear:

The vaccines do not protect against all HPV types— so they will not prevent all cases of cervical cancer. About 30% of cervical cancers will not be prevented by the vaccines, so it will be important for women to continue getting screened for cervical cancer (regular Pap tests).

This information is also readily available on the Gardasil home page:

GARDASIL is the only human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that helps protect against 4 types of HPV. In girls and young women ages 9 to 26, GARDASIL helps protect against 2 types of HPV that cause about 75% of cervical cancer cases [other sources say about 70%],…

…GARDASIL may not fully protect everyone, nor will it protect against diseases caused by other HPV types or against diseases not caused by HPV. GARDASIL does not prevent all types of cervical cancer, so it’s important for women to continue routine cervical cancer screenings.

When you tell people the vaccine is 100% effective against cervical cancer, you give people a false sense of safety that might lead some later to forego regular Pap tests, which are demonstrably effective in preventing all cervical cancers in all women. Please correct this error.

My doctorate is from a highly respected university. I assume you’ll get your own real PhD in the future, but you fail the entrance exams for Google U.

SC

*Note that this does not mean that all infections with these four strains will lead to cervical cancer.