Gardasil: Should you get vaccinated?

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection that has become more common over the past few years.  But with recent negative reports surrounding the vaccination for HPV, some women are debating whether or not they should get it.

Gardasil, a vaccine against HPV and cervical cancer. (Photo courtesy of babble.com)

Gardasil is a vaccine created to help prevent HPV and cervical cancer. When it was first released in the North American market a few years ago, people only had positive things to say about it. But in the past year or two there have been more negative than positive reports on the vaccination – reports about teenage girls dying from it or other serious side-effects like blood clots and heart attacks.

However, the negative reports aren’t enough to scare some girls away from the vaccine.

One of those girls is Sarah Rushton, a social work student at St. Thomas University. She said that, while she did hear all the negative reports in the news and on the internet, her doctor gave her enough information on the vaccination for her to make a rational decision.

“I’ve done some research on it and there are some serious side effects like neurological disorders,” said Rushton. “The statistics show that it’s a small percentage of people who have that serious of an adverse reaction. And I think this one (vaccination), it’s worth the risk.”

Rushton, who just received her third and final dosage of Gardasil a few weeks ago, said the only side effect she experienced was a sore arm that only lasted a day or so.

She says something that most people in Western society don’t realize is that Gardasil isn’t all that new.

“Australia’s been giving the shot for probably almost 10 years now. They give it to boys and girls. They’re starting to get results from research done now. And they’ve actually found that the rates of HPV and cervical cancer have actually decreased. So, it means it’s working.”

But there’s something that Rushton, like most people, was unaware of – an herb that is said to be safer than Gardasil for protection against and the curing of HPV. In 1873, Pau d’Arco was prescribed as a fever-reducer. In the 1960s Dr. Walter Accorsi and Dr. Theodoro Meyer actually proved the herb’s healing ability on viral warts and recommended it for the treatment of many viral diseases. Not to mention, there have been no reports of any serious side effects.

Rushton feels that this information is something medical professionals should keep on hand for those who may not feel comfortable getting a vaccination.

“They should probably have the information on hand in case someone’s talking to their doctor and says ‘You know what, I just don’t want it. Is there anything else I could do?’ and the doctor can say ‘Well, you know, there is this information you can choose to do whatever you want with it. We’re not advocating one way or another,’” she said.

However, Rushton did admit that even if she had of known of Pau d’Arco, she still would have chosen Gardasil.

And while there was a state in the United States that had made the vaccination mandatory in public schools, that policy has recently been struck down, and according to Rushton, that’s a good thing, “I don’t think it should be mandatory, just because if you start making something mandatory it’s infringing on your rights, your ability to have free choice as to what you want to do,” she said, “So I don’t think it should be mandatory. I think informing people about it and letting them make a rational decision based on that.”

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Posted by Corinne Frost on Oct 30, 2009. Filed under News, This Week's Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.