The cervical cancer vaccine (gardasil) can prevent 70% of cervical cancers. Cervical cancer is a serious condition. Over 300 cases were diagnosed in Ireland in 2010. While the cervical screening program can pick up abnormal cells, hopefully at an early stage, as with most things, prevention is better than cure. The HPV vaccine is the only realistic way to prevent cervical cancer effectively.
HPV is a virus which causes warts, particularly genital warts. There are two subtypes, HPV 16 and 18, which are strongly linked with the development of cervical cancer. The vaccine is effective at preventing it and in countries such as Australia where vaccine uptake is high, a 75% reduction in the number of cases of cervical abnormalities has been achieved. Many young lives have been saved.
While overall the vaccine is safe, typical side effects include:
1 in 10: Pain, redness and swelling at the injection site with possibly headache. Lightheadedness.
1 in 100: Nausea, arm pain, fever
1 in 10,000: Itchy rash
1 in 1,000,000: Marked allergic reaction
There has been some controversy in Ireland over the HPV vaccine with allegations of side effects such as chronic fatigue syndrome. Unfortunately chronic fatigue syndrome in teenage girls is common, affecting about 0.3% of the population. It is inevitable that some of this 0.3% will have had the vaccine. It is understandable that when an incompletely understood illness such as chronic fatigue syndrome develops that people look for a specific event or medication to blame it on. However, that does not mean that the cause of their condition is the vaccine. In fact, there has been no increase in incidence of chronic fatigue syndrome since the vaccine's introduction and there is no rational theoretical or proven association between the two issues.
While everyone has autonomy over there own health issues, and such cases can seem quite scary when seen on TV, it is important that such a decision is based on the real facts of the situation.