HPV Vaccine should be free for everyone

In addition to subtypes 16, 18, 6, and 11, the new vaccine would also protect against HPV subtypes 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the list of HPV types that cause cancer has been expanded to include types 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, and 59.

According to Joura, these nine HPV subtypes are responsible for about 85% of precancerous cervical lesions, both cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and adenocarcinoma in situ.

“If nine-valent HPV vaccination programs are effectively implemented, the majority of these lesions could be prevented,” said Joura in a statement.

Girls-only vaccinations unfair, say New Westminster sixth graders

NEW WEST RECORD 
OCTOBER 1, 2014 10:37 AM

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New Westminster sixth graders Nelson and Elliot Roy want the same free protection against the cancer-causing human papilloma virus (HPV) as the girls at their school.   ...

Two New Westminster middle school boys don’t think it’s fair they’re not getting the same free protection against the cancer-causing human papilloma virus (HPV) as the girls at their school.

Twin brothers Elliot and Nelson Roy were handed notices last week about upcoming vaccinations for Grade 6 students at their school ...

The two 11-year-olds noticed the HPV vaccine was being offered to girls only.

Most of their male classmates didn’t make much of it, they said, and others thought boys couldn’t get the virus, but the Roy brothers knew better because they had watched a documentary on the subject a short time before.

“It showed how deadly these sicknesses can be,” Elliot told The Record. “I went to sleep that night kind of thinking, ‘Why are we not getting this? This is a life-saving vaccine.’”

Nelson agreed.

“We heard what it could do to people and apparently how the vaccine should be taken around 12 or 11,” he said, “so then when the vaccinations at our school came up and it said that only girls could, we were a bit upset about it.”

Their dad, Michel, encouraged them to write a letter to the editor.

In it, they argued boys should get free vaccinations because they are at the same risk as girls for getting the disease and passing it on.

“It is a life-threatening virus as it can produce many forms of cancer,” states the letter. “We have heard that the vaccine is available for free for boys in P.E.I. and Alberta, so we do not understand why boys cannot get it for free as part of our Grade 6 immunizations.”

Two types of HPV cause 70 per cent of cervical cancers in women, according to the Immunize B.C. website. In men, the virus is associated with cancers of the mouth, nose, throat, anus and penis.

B.C. has offered a free HPV vaccination program for girls in grades 6 and 9 since 2008.

P.E.I. was the first province to extend their program to boys; Alberta has followed suit this fall, and Nova Scotia is reportedly considering the move.

B.C. is not, even though the Canadian Cancer Society recommends males between the ages of nine and 26 be immunized and that HPV vaccines should be “available and affordable to Canadians.”

“At this time, B.C. is not covering HPV vaccination for males,” reads an email statement to The Record from the Health Ministry. “The cost of such a program is a factor in this decision. When making decisions about what vaccines to cover under the province’s vaccination program, the ministry looks at both cost-effectiveness and potential benefits, keeping in mind B.C.’s specific circumstances.”

That explanation doesn’t sit right with New West’s Roy brothers.

“I don’t find that very fair because then why should the girls get it if the boys can’t,” Nelson said. “If it is too expensive, then why can’t everyone just pay the same?”

The family now faces a total cost of about $1,000 for the boys to get the shots through their family doctor.

“Our family’s been touched by cancer a couple of times, so we take it very seriously,” Michel said.

HPV vaccination programs by province / territory

• Alberta
  Offered to girls and boys in Grade 5.
• British Columbia
  Offered to girls in Grades 6.
• Manitoba
  Offered to girls in Grade 6 and girls who missed the vaccine in Grade 6 born on or after January 1, 1997.
• Newfoundland and Labrador
  Offered to Grade 6 girls.
• New Brunswick
  Offered to girls in Grade 7. 
• Nova Scotia   
  Offered to girls in Grade 7.
• Ontario 
  Offered to girls in Grade 8. Since September 2012, girls in Grades 9–12 who didn't receive or didn't complete the three-dose HPV immunization in Grade 8 can now receive the vaccine free of charge, until the end of Grade 12. If you missed some or all of your doses of HPV vaccine in Grade 8, contact your local Public Health Unit to find out how you can catch-up.
• Prince Edward Island            
  Offered to girls and boys in Grade 6.
• Quebec 
  The province offers the vaccine for free to girls and women aged 9 to 17. Schools only offer HPV vaccination to Quebec girls in Grade 4 and 9, but parents whose daughters fall between those grades can request to have them vaccinated by submitting parental consent forms. Girls over 14 years of age can request HPV vaccination themselves. Girls in aboriginal communities aged 9 to 17 can also access free HPV vaccination.
• Saskatchewan 
  Offered to girls in Grade 6.
• Yukon
  Offered to girls in Grade 6. Catch-up program - Grades 7 and 8.
• Northwest Territories 
  Offered to girls in Grade 4. Catch-up program - Grade 9 (2012-2014).
• Nunavut
  Offered to girls in Grade 6.

 

Misusing VAERS and the Health Canada database

One thing that David Bruser and Jesse McLean did that American reporters frequently do is to misunderstand the purpose of an open adverse event reporting database. In the US, we have the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Designed as a “canary in the coalmine”-type early warning system designed to pick up adverse events early, it’s a database to which anyone can contribute a suspected vaccine adverse event. It is not authoritative, and the adverse events are not generally verified. Indeed, as has been reported before, one pro-vaccine blogger, Dr. Jim Laidler, reported that the influenza vaccine turned him into the Incredible Hulk. True, the VAERS staff did contact this blogger and ask him about it, but, as he noted, if he had refused to remove the entry, it would still be there. Another pro-vaccine blogger, Kevin Leitch, verified that VAERS lets you enter basically anything by reporting that a vaccine had turned his daughter into Wonder Woman. Not surprisingly, antivaccine lawyers have made the database almost worthless as a source of information over the incidence of adverse events due to vaccines by encouraging their clients to enter all sorts of reports, in particular reports claiming that vaccines caused autism.

Dr. Gorski now reports that Heather Mallick has blocked him on Twitter. I'm disappointed in Heather Mallick. When did she become such a crackpot?

The Nova Scotia government's decision to provide the HPV vaccine to Grade 7 boys in the province is being welcomed by the Canadian Cancer Society, which calls the move "groundbreaking."

"By having an actual vaccine to protect against these cancers, it's changing the face of cancer 10, 20, 30 years down the line for these boys and girls," said Kelly Cull, a spokeswoman for the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Cancer Society.

The provincial government included $492,000 in its budget last week to cover the cost of immunizing all Grade 7 boys.

It has provided the human papillomavirus vaccine to girls since 2007. The cost last year was $693,000.

All provinces provide it to females, but Nova Scotia is only the third province — behind P.E.I. and Alberta — to provide the vaccine to boys.

In Monday's online issue of the journal Cancer, a study concluded the vaccine for boys may potentially save between $8 million and $28 million a year over the boys' lifetimes, or up to nearly $42 per person per year in costs.

In the fall, Nova Scotia politician Gordie Gosse put a human face to HPV and men when he disclosed that his doctor told him his throat cancer was caused by the virus. Gosse, who resigned earlier this month, called on the province to make sure boys gets the same vaccine as girls. ...

The national Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended in 2012 that males between the ages of nine and 26 be immunized. 

Only Gardasil is approved for boys and young men to prevent anal cancer, its precancerous condition and anogenital warts. The vaccine is most effective when given to males before they become sexually active. NACI recommends that Gardasil be used for:

• males between 9 and 26 years of age
• males 9 years of age and older who have sex with other males 

There is some evidence that Gardasil may also prevent penile, perianal and perineal precancerous conditions (intraepithelial neoplasias) and their associated cancers, although it is currently not approved for this use.

Research is being done to see if vaccinating boys and young men before they become sexually active can prevent them from passing on HPV to females. In turn, this could help reduce cervical cancer risk in women.

Gardasil

Gardasil was the first HPV vaccine approved in Canada. It is a quadrivalent vaccine that protects against 4 different HPV types: HPV- 6, HPV-11, HPV-16 and HPV-18.

 Gardasil helps protect females between 9 and 45 years of age against:

• precancerous conditions of the cervix, vagina and vulva
• cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancer

 In females and males between 9 and 26 years of age, Gardasil also helps prevent:

• precancerous conditions of the anus (anal epithelial neoplasia or AIN)
• anal cancer

 Gardasil also helps protect females (9–45 years of age) and males (9–26 years of age) against anogenital warts.

 

Cervarix

Cervarix is a bivalent vaccine that protects against 2 high-risk HPV types: HPV-16 and HPV-18.

Cervarix helps protects females between 10 and 25 years of age against:

• precancerous conditions of the cervix
• cervical cancer

Cervarix does not protect against genital warts.

 

Gardasil 9

Gardasil 9 is the newest HPV vaccine approved in Canada. It protects against 9 different HPV types:

• HPV- 6
• HPV-11
• HPV-16
• HPV-18
• HPV-31
• HPV-33
• HPV-45
• HPV-52
• HPV-58

 

Gardasil 9 helps protect females between 9 and 45 years of age against:

• precancerous conditions of the cervix, vagina and vulva
• cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancer

In females and males between 9 and 26 years of age, Gardasil 9 also helps prevent:

• precancerous conditions of the anus (anal epithelial neoplasia or AIN)
• anal cancer

Gardasil 9 also helps protect females (9–45 years of age) and males (9–26 years of age) against anogenital warts.

 

To recap, Kennedy accuses scientists of fraud, which is pretty much the worst thing you can say about a scientist. He distorts their statements. He says they should be thrown in jail. He uses his powerful name to besmirch theirs. That name, the reason he has power and fame, is inherited from a family dedicated to public service. He now uses the Kennedy name to accuse employees of government agencies charged with protecting human health - some of the best public servants this country has - of engaging in a massive conspiracy to cause brain damage in children

As for the swine flu, the public health authorities were damned if they did and damned if they didn't. As it turned out, the swine flu didn't turn out to be the dangerous world-wide pandemic that was originally predicted (on the basis of flawed data from Mexico, but that's another story). If on the other hand it did turn out to have been a world-wide pandemic on the level of 1918/19, public health authorities would have been equally excoriated for an under-reaction. It's a public relations battle that they can't win.

New data from Vancouver Coastal Health shows vaccination rates in the health region are too low.

It’s one of the hottest issues of debate – should you vaccinate your kids?

It looks like that may be having an impact.

One in four  kids entering kindergarten in the health region don’t have up-to-date immunizations, and a third of parents are choosing not to vaccinate their daughters in Grade 6 against Human Papillomavirus.

The lowest up-to-date vaccination rate for children entering kindergarten in the region is in Powell River at 54%, followed by  West Vancouver, at 57%.

The highest is Richmond and South Vancouver in 83%.

Why vaccination refusal is a white privilege problem

http://www.xojane.com/issues/vaccination-refusal-white-privilege

Basically, there are two groups of undervaccinated or unvaccinated people in America: poor people who have trouble accessing health care, and people whose average annual family income is north of $75,000. When rich people don't vaccinate their kids, this creates pockets of disease vulnerability. And when outbreaks occur, the kids who are more likely to suffer serious complications are poor and undernourished.

Similarly, Ireland's age of marriage in 1830 was 23.8 for women and 27.47 for men where they had once been 21 and 25, respectively, and only bout 10% of adults remained unmarried;[19] in 1840, they had respectively risen to 24.4 and 27.7;[20][21] in the decades after the Great Famine, the age of marriage had risen to 28-29 for women and 33 for men and as much as a third of Irishmen and a fourth of Irishwomen never married due to chronic economic problems that discouraged early marriage.

After the Famine, unlike before, it was customary for a couple to marry only when assured of adequate land—land, that is, sufficient to promise the support of a new family Before the Famine " adequacy " had been finely defined none had long to spend looking for his few acres But afterwards tenants (and landlords even more so) had lost their faith m tiny holdings And for reasons more com- pelling, if farms were to be made viable, they had also to be made larger. ...

In the years immediately following the Famine, with the lesson that farms were too small graven on the mmd of its survivors, it is not unreasonable to imagine a family amicably calling a halt to subdivision, even at a sacnfice of some of its members Indeed, m these years, the disinherited may have felt that it was they, not their brothers, who were favoured , that all too soon the heir to Irish land might more conspiciously be the heir to Irish disaster.