Local Kaiser Permanente members have another reason to
appreciate the progressive emphasis the HMO places on preventative
medicine: Free cervical cancer vaccines.
News of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the
vaccine hit the front pages last week, noting that cervical cancer
is the second leading cause of cancer death among women
worldwide.
Local Kaiser Permanente members have another reason to appreciate the progressive emphasis the HMO places on preventative medicine: Free cervical cancer vaccines.
News of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the vaccine hit the front pages last week, noting that cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide.
This is a major breakthrough that will affect up to 70 percent of the 10,000 cases diagnosed in the United States each year, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The FDA ruling will make available the vaccine, called Gardasil, to females ages 9 to 26. The national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet June 29 and is expected to issue a recommendation that all girls ages 11 and 12 receive the vaccine.
Fortunately, and a bit surprisingly, the FDA – which has a recent track record of allowing science to play second fiddle to religion – agrees.
There was the usual outcry from some conservatives who objected to administering a drug to treat a sexually transmitted virus to girls before they become sexually active. Unless we are missing something here, that reasoning suggests that it’s worth a woman’s agonizing death in favor of a nebulous and unproven concept that vaccinating girls will lead to promiscuous behavior. It’s shameful. Yet the right-wing conservative group Focus on the Family opposes mandatory vaccination before entry into public school. Whatever happened to family values?
But there is a price, specifically $120 per dose set by drug maker Merck. The regimen requires three doses. The expected endorsement by the CDC would open the door to private insurance coverage, but it is unclear what big insurers will do.
Ultimately it will be up to each individual state to mandate the vaccines, but any epidemiologist will tell you that a half-hearted attempt to rid a population of a disease will never work. It’s all or nothing, which is why the U.S. polio project in the 1950s was so successful – it was mandated for children entering school.
We applaud Kaiser embracing science and protecting the health of its members – a refreshingly true family value.
