Misinformation Keeps Vaccination Rates Low
No vaccine has suffered more from misinformation and ill-founded concerns than the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Antivaccine activists have claimed that HPV vaccine causes chronic pain syndromes, chronic fatigue, sudden death, and a variety of autoimmune disorders. In addition, activists have gone so far as to claim that the HPV vaccine increases risky sexual behavior. These claims are often supported by the media as well as by substandard studies published in predatory journals. Indeed, on December 4, 2013, Katie Couric, in a segment titled "HPV Vaccine Controversy," interviewed two mothers: One claimed that the vaccine had caused her daughter to suffer chronic fatigue, the other that the vaccine had caused an otherwise unexplained death.
As a consequence of such fears, immunization rates for the HPV vaccine remain low. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only 53% of girls and 44% of boys have received the recommended doses.[1] As currently constructed, the HPV vaccine—which contains the L1 surface protein from nine different strains—will prevent about 29,000 cases of HPV-associated cancers and 5000 deaths a year.[2]Unfortunately, because only about half of US adolescents have received this vaccine, every year about 15,000 people are destined to suffer and 2000 to die from a preventable cancer.
Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
COMMENTARY
The Overwhelming Safety of the HPV Vaccine
Paul A. Offit, MD
DisclosuresSeptember 07, 2018
Editorial Collaboration
Medscape &
Misinformation Keeps Vaccination Rates Low
No vaccine has suffered more from misinformation and ill-founded concerns than the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Antivaccine activists have claimed that HPV vaccine causes chronic pain syndromes, chronic fatigue, sudden death, and a variety of autoimmune disorders. In addition, activists have gone so far as to claim that the HPV vaccine increases risky sexual behavior. These claims are often supported by the media as well as by substandard studies published in predatory journals. Indeed, on December 4, 2013, Katie Couric, in a segment titled "HPV Vaccine Controversy," interviewed two mothers: One claimed that the vaccine had caused her daughter to suffer chronic fatigue, the other that the vaccine had caused an otherwise unexplained death.
As a consequence of such fears, immunization rates for the HPV vaccine remain low. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only 53% of girls and 44% of boys have received the recommended doses.[1] As currently constructed, the HPV vaccine—which contains the L1 surface protein from nine different strains—will prevent about 29,000 cases of HPV-associated cancers and 5000 deaths a year.[2]Unfortunately, because only about half of US adolescents have received this vaccine, every year about 15,000 people are destined to suffer and 2000 to die from a preventable cancer.
Medscape Infectious Diseases © 2018 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: The Overwhelming Safety of the HPV Vaccine - Medscape - Sep 07, 2018.
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Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author
Paul A. Offit, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Disclosure: Paul A. Offit, MD, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.