Defending Rick Perry on the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine
I know that Michele Bachmann is thrilled she thinks she scored a great punch on Rick Perry in last night’s debate, but the truth is Rick Perry did over reach when he attempted to mandate the HPV vaccine for young girls in Texas.  The other truth is that this vaccine is critically important if you want to save lives of these young women in later years.
Facts about HPV:
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by the age of 50 more than 80% of American women will have contracted at least one strain of genital HPV. (SOURCE)
- Each year between 250,000 and 1 million American women are diagnosed with cervical dysplasia, which is caused by HPV and is a precursor to cervical cancer. (SOURCE)
- About 11,000 American women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, and about 4,000 die per year of the disease.  (SOURCE)
- The bivalent HPV vaccine was efficacious in prevention of incident and persistent cervical infections with HPV-16 and HPV-18, and associated cytological abnormalities and lesions. Vaccination against such infections could substantially reduce incidence of cervical cancer. (SOURCE)
My Point:
Rick Perry is right.  Every young woman should have this vaccine before there is any chance that she is likely to have had any sexual contact of any kind with any person.  This spreads most easily through other methods of sexual contact that some young teens do not consider to be “sex.” We are talking Bill Clinton / Monica Lewinski style contact.  The popular media culture is influencing these girls (and their boyfriends).  Have them protected.  You have to get these girls treated EARLY.  Males in the UK already can get the vaccine, and there is an advisory panel that has recommended to the FDA that the vaccine be made available to boys.
Woman are certain to get HPV by a factor of 80% as shown above. Â The death rate for this is increasing as this is spreading. Â With one mass vaccination of the United States population of females, I saw one article that suggests we would lower cervical cancer deaths in those women by about a factor of 95% – or greater.
My OTHER Point:
She is attacking Perry on something where she is WRONG. Â True, no mandate. But – she makes ALL REPUBLICANS, CONSERVATIVES and TEA PARTY MEMBERS look stupid by defying facts. Â Come on, Michele. Â Get a REAL ISSUE with Perry.
