Cervical cancer vaccine wins some conservative favor
|
|
Conservatives who fought against wider access to a “morning-after” pill are speaking favorably about vaccines against a sexually transmitted cause of cervical cancer, but some groups may still call for limited use.
The makers of the still-experimental vaccines, Merck & Co. Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, have been meeting with advocacy groups to dispel any concerns that giving the shots might promote sexual activity by young girls.
The efforts are paying off, as some religious organizations are welcoming the vaccines as a new weapon against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common cause of cervical cancer.
“We think it’s a great idea to have this vaccine,” said Dr. Gene Rudd, associate executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association. Should studies continue to show solid results, “we think it ought to be a recommended vaccine,” he said.
Rudd’s organization was among the opponents of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.‘s bid for over-the-counter sales of the Plan B “morning-after” contraceptive. Some Plan B backers worry the same forces will stymie the HPV vaccines by arguing their availability could clash with a message promoting abstinence.
“We do not want to see another instance of ideology trumping the health and well-being of the American people,” Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Democrat, wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
Cervical cancer strikes about 10,000 U.S. women a year and kills about 3,900, according to the American Cancer Society.
Merck’s vaccine has shown 100 percent protection from the two most common HPV strains and could win approval next year.
For maximum acceptance, the makers need a strong endorsement from the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, a panel convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Schools often follow the panel’s recommendations when deciding which vaccines to require for students.
While some physicians suggest mandatory vaccination for girls—possibly at age 11 or 12—others want the shots limited to those at high risk of HPV infection because they have multiple sexual partners.
“You can’t get HPV through casual contact, and if you limit your sexual behavior…you’re not going to have to worry about HPV,” said Dr. Hal Wallis of the Physicians Consortium, which advocates abstinence until marriage.
By requiring universal vaccination, “we would be literally vaccinating millions of women who really are at no risk at all,” he said.
Urging limits could be a “back-door way” for opponents to defeat the vaccines, said Dr. Susan Wood, a women’s health expert who left the Food and Drug Administration because of its refusal to clear over-the-counter Plan B. Just as with Plan B, opponents “don’t want widespread availability,” she said.
Concerned Women for America, a conservative group that lobbied against Plan B, has no position on the vaccines yet.
“People do seem more willing to take risks if they think they are not going to suffer consequences,” said Wendy Wright, CWA’s executive vice president. She said she was “encouraged” Merck was pitching the vaccine as preventing cancer, rather than a sexually transmitted infection. That could avoid “the very touchy issue of how this virus is transmitted,” she said.
Executives from Merck and Glaxo said they are sensitive to concerns from groups that teach abstinence.
“Abstinence obviously is the most effective approach to preventing cervical cancer, but there are many other potential outcomes,” Margaret McGlynn, president of Merck Vaccines, said at the Reuters Health Summit this month.
Print Version
Tell-a-Friend comments powered by Disqus
