Tag: hpv myths

New Vaccine Bills and Laws in 2019

California passed a new vaccine law, SB 277, in 2015.

With the passage of SB 277, California joined Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states that do not allow either religious or personal belief vaccine exemptions.

A few other states passed new vaccine laws of their own in the following years.

Despite what anti-vaccine folks might think, not one of the new laws means that anyone is forcing kids to get vaccinated though.

New Vaccine Bills and Laws in 2019

The idea of vaccine mandates is a big issue as we continue to see outbreaks of measles around the world.

New vaccine laws being proposed across the United States include:

  • House Bill 2505 in Arizona will change their non-medical exemptions from personal to religious
  • Senate Bill 1201 in Arizona will require schools to post immunization rates on their websites
  • House Bill 7005 in Connecticut would permit ordained, commissioned and licensed members of the clergy to acknowledge parental statements concerning religious objections to vaccinations required for enrollment in public and nonpublic schools, instead of school nurses.
  • Senate Bill 354 in Florida updates their immunization registry
  • Senate Bill 1659 in Illinois adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive before starting 6th grade
  • HF 206 in Iowa eliminates the religious vaccine exemption.
  • Senate Bill 133 in Kentucky adds vaccine requirements for college students
  • Legislative Document 798 has been sent to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs in Maine and would remove non-medical vaccine exemptions
  • SD 1520 in Massachusetts adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive
  • Assembly Bill 3818 in New Jersey clarifies the religious exemption to vaccination, so that a general philosophical or moral objection to getting vaccinated will no longer count as a true religious exemption
  • Senate Bill 298 in New York adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive
  • Senate Bill 925 in Oklahoma requires school districts to report exemption rates
  • House Bill 2783 in Oregon requires parents to submit a form signed by a health care practitioner if they are not going to vaccinate their kids and a signed certificate verifying that they completed a vaccine educational module
  • Senate Bill 329 in Texas simply requires schools to post how many kids are claiming vaccine exemptions
  • House Bill 238 in Vermont eliminates religious exemptions
  • House Bill 1638 has already passed a Health Care and Wellness Committee in Washington and will remove personal or philosophical exemptions for the MMR vaccine
  • Senate Bill 5841 in Washington will remove personal or philosophical exemptions for all vaccines

It’s easy to navigate the new laws.

Get educated and get your kids vaccinated. Vaccines are safe, with few risks, vaccines work, and vaccines are necessary.

Be a vaccine advocate and make sure your state legislators know that you support strong vaccine laws that will keep us all protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, as more and more folks try and abuse vaccine exemptions.

What To Know About Vaccine Mandate Laws

Vaccine mandate laws are expanding as we are seeing more outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.

More Information on Vaccine Mandate Laws:

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I’m Not Anti-Vaccine, I Just Don’t Believe in the HPV Vaccine

Believe it or not, there are some parents who get their kids each and every vaccine, but skip the one that protects them from cancer.

I’m Not Anti-Vaccine, I Just Don’t Believe in the HPV Vaccine

Why?

HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention.

That’s a good question.

And although they won’t have a good answer, some of their reasons include that:

  • the HPV vaccine is too new – even though Gardasil was first approved in 2006 and the first phase 1 and phase 2 trials began in 1997!
  • they don’t think it is necessary – even though about 4,200 women die of cervical cancer each year (that’s just in the United States), even in this age of routine pap tests
  • it might lead their kids to have early sex or unprotected sex – even though studies show it won’t
  • Michele Bachmann once said it caused mental retardation – even though she had no evidence to support her claim
  • the HPV vaccine is too controversial – any “controversy” about Gardasil and Cervarix is made up by anti-vaccine folks
  • HPV vaccines can cause POTS, ASIA, primary ovarian failure, venous blood clots, behavior problems, or multiple sclerosis, etc. – even though over and over, studies have found HPV vaccines to be safe and to not cause any of the other serious side effects or vaccine induced diseases you read about on the Internet that scare you away from vaccinating and protecting your kids
  • it is banned in Utah – even though that isn’t true
  • it doesn’t provide life-long protection – even though the protection has been found to be long-lasting, as long as we have been giving the vaccine so far
  • it is banned in Japan and France – even though HPV vaccines aren’t banned anywhere and are actually on the immunization schedule in at least 64 countries
  • Katie Couric once did a scary segment on HPV vaccines – well, she did but later apologized… after being called out for pushing anti-vaccine misinformation
  • an HPV vaccine researcher says it’s dangerous – no, the HPV vaccine researcher, Diane Harper, actually says it is a safe vaccine
  • HPV vaccines are just for girls – even though there are around 11,000 cases of HPV induced cancer in men each year, including anal cancer and cancers of the mouth/throat and penis
  • their kids are too young and can get it later, when they are older – even though protection is likely better when they get the vaccine when they are younger, and you don’t want to wait too long, when you increase the chance that they will have had sex and will already be exposed to HPV

So why aren’t you getting your kids vaccinated and protected… against cancer?

Need to do more research? Read the links below and then schedule your kids for their HPV vaccine.

More on HPV Vaccine Safety

Who Is Judy Mikovits?

Dr. Judy Mikovits has a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, doing her thesis on Negative Regulation of HIV Expression in Monocytes.

She had several papers published with Dr. Frank Ruscetti, with whom she continues to work.

Instead of research, it seems that they now do:

  • Advocacy for vaccine injury legal cases worldwide. 
  • Research and documentation on medical exemptions for vaccinations.

What happened?

Who Is Judy Mikovits?

After working at the National Cancer Institute, it seems that Judy Mikovits became research director of the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI).

A paper by Mikovits and Ruscetti was retracted because no one else could replicate the work.

She was eventually fired after a paper she was lead author on, which found xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) in patients with CFS, was retracted and the institute accused her of stealing notebooks and manipulating data.

“But the leader of the team that authored the 2009 paper, researcher Judy Mikovits, apparently presented the same figure — carrying different labels and supporting a different point — in a talk given at a conference on Sept. 23 in Ottawa.”

Manipulation alleged in paper linking virus, chronic fatigue syndrome

An even larger study found no evidence of XMRV infections in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, even as she had claimed the virus could cause CFS, Parkinson’s disease, autism and multiple sclerosis.

The source of XMRV in her patients?

“Well-controlled experiments showed that detection of XMRV was due to contaminated samples and was not a marker of or a causal factor in prostate cancer or CFS.”

Johnson et al on Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus (XMRV) and the Safety of the Blood Supply

The virus was in a contaminated cell line in which she and others were doing research. The virus wasn’t in the actual patients themselves.

Judy Mikovits on Vaccines

Before her paper was retracted and she was fired from her lab, Judy Mikovits did actually do research on viruses and she is a scientist. She didn’t do research on vaccines though.

Judy Mikovits is still finding retroviruses wherever she looks for them...
Judy Mikovits is still finding retroviruses wherever she looks for them…

That seems to be something she talks about a lot now though:

  • at anti-vaccine rallies
  • at anti-vaccine conferences
  • in anti-vaccine videos

Her claim to fame seems to be talking about contaminated vaccines and bashing Gardasil. And deep state conspiracy theories about why she was arrested and lost her job.

To be clear, a rotavirus vaccine was found to be contaminated with DNA of porcine circovirus type 1.  While that might sound a little scary, it is important to keep in mind that the PCV1 virus doesn’t actually cause disease in people and these weren’t even “biologically active virus particles.”

PCV1 isn’t a retrovirus though and Judy Mikovits wasn’t even the researcher who discovered the contamination, which has since been resolved. 

“These findings do not indicate the presence of either ALV or EAV infection in MMR vaccine recipients and provide support for current immunization policies.”

Hussain et al on Lack of Evidence of Endogenous Avian Leukosis Virus and Endogenous Avian Retrovirus Transmission to Measles Mumps Rubella Vaccine Recipients

Studies have looked at retrovirus contamination of vaccines, but they were  done over 17 years ago. And not by Mikovits. Studies that confirmed that vaccines are safe.

None of this has kept Judy Mikovits from scaring people about vaccines, especially the HPV vaccine.

“Cervical cancer is not a public health threat. It’s not an infectious disease. Why is it in the Department of Public Health? Why are we mandating every child over 9 years old, and I heard soon to be pregnant women, to get this vaccine? It makes no sense.”

Judy Mikovits

It is really hard to understand how someone who worked at the National Cancer Institute could make these statements. Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women.

There is, of course, no mandate for 9-year-olds to get the HPV vaccine. In the United States, HPV vaccination is recommended, beginning at age 11 to 12 years. The HPV vaccine is not recommended for pregnant women and while several vaccines are recommended, no vaccines are actually mandated in pregnancy.

“It was never developed to prevent cancer. It was developed and approved to prevent warts. Warts are not a public health threat. It’s beyond… When scientists like myself, and I work in cancer and AIDS hear this, we are just…”

Judy Mikovits

Gardasil and Cervarix were developed to prevent HPV infections, which cause cervical cancer. HPV can also cause genital warts.

“I think we need to ban… Japan and India have, all HPV vaccinations now, until the appropriate studies are done, until the patients are tested…”

Judy Mikovits

Neither Japan nor India have banned HPV vaccinations.

Why should we? The HPV vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary.

And why would anyone listen to Judy Mikovits? 

More on Judy Mikovits

Should You Get an Extra Dose of Gardasil9?

Believe it or not, the first human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was approved way back in 2006.

HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention.

And believe it or not, we are now on our third version of the vaccine, which provides protection against even more strains of HPV.

HPV Vaccine Timeline

So we have gone from:

  • Cervarix – HPV serotypes 16, 18 (2006)
  • Gardasil – HPV serotypes 6, 11, 16, 18 (2006)
  • Gardasil9 – HPV serotypes 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58 (2014)

And with each new vaccine, there comes more protection against anal and genital warts and anal, genital, head and neck, and cervical cancers.

Gardasil9, the only HPV vaccine available in the United States, increases the protection level against cervical cancer from 70 to 90%!

Should You Get an Extra Dose of Gardasil9?

Has your child already finished their HPV vaccine series?

With which HPV vaccine?

To be clear, if they have finished the series, then they are considered to be fully vaccinated and protected.

“Persons who have completed a valid series with any HPV vaccine do not need any additional doses.”

National Cancer Institute on Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccines

Remember, the key, high-risk strains that cause most HPV-associated cancer are HPV-16 and 18, which are present in all of the HPV vaccines.

The extra coverage in Gardasil9 to HPV strains 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58 could prevent an additional 10% of invasive HPV associated cancers or about 3,800 cases each year though, mostly in women.

Should you get any extra doses of Gardasil9 for this extra coverage?

“Administration of a 3-dose regimen of 9vHPV vaccine to adolescent girls and young women 12-26 years of age who are prior qHPV vaccine recipients is highly immunogenic with respect to HPV types 31/33/45/52/58 and generally well tolerated.”

Garland et al on Safety and immunogenicity of a 9-valent HPV vaccine in females 12-26 years of age who previously received the quadrivalent HPV vaccine.

While safe to do and it works, there is no formal recommendation that anyone actually get any extra doses of Gardasil9 at this time.

It is something to consider if you want the extra protection though.

Will we get even more coverage in future HPV vaccines? The future might come in different types of vaccines or even in therapeutic vaccines. There doesn’t seem to be a new version of Gardasil with expanded strain coverage in the immediate pipeline though.

More on Getting an Extra Dose of HPV9

Did the FDA Approve a New HPV Vaccine for Adults?

What do you know about the HPV vaccine?

Hopefully you know that it can prevent cervical cancer and that lots of folks spread misinformation that is intended to confuse and scare you away from getting vaccinated and protected with it and other vaccines.

Did the FDA Approve a New HPV Vaccine for Adults?

News that the approved ages for Gardasil have been expanded will likely add to that confusion for a little while.

The FDA simply approved the expanded use of the existing Gardasil 9 vaccine – not a new vaccine.
The FDA simply approved the expanded use of the existing Gardasil 9 vaccine – not a new vaccine.

The first thing to understand is that the FDA did not approve a new Gardasil vaccine for older adults.

They very simply expanded the age recommendations for who should get the existing Gardasil 9 vaccine, which was approved back in 2014, replacing the original Gardasil vaccine, which was approved in 2006.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a supplemental application for Gardasil 9 (Human Papillomavirus (HPV) 9-valent Vaccine, Recombinant) expanding the approved use of the vaccine to include women and men aged 27 through 45 years.”

Why the new age indication?

“In a study in approximately 3,200 women 27 through 45 years of age, followed for an average of 3.5 years, Gardasil was 88 percent effective in the prevention of a combined endpoint of persistent infection, genital warts, vulvar and vaginal precancerous lesions, cervical precancerous lesions, and cervical cancer related to HPV types covered by the vaccine.”

But isn’t the whole point of giving the HPV vaccine to preteens that you want to get them vaccinated and protected before they are sexually active and exposed to and infected by HPV?

Sure, but if you didn’t, and unless you are sure that you have been exposed to and have been infected by all 9 types of HPV strains that Gardasil 9 protects you against, then the vaccine is still a good idea when you are older.

Except FDA approval doesn’t automatically mean that your insurance company will pay for it.

That usually comes once a vaccine is formally added to the immunization schedule by the ACIP.

“In a 2005 study, 92% of insurance plans reported following Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations to determine covered vaccines; of those, 60% could extend coverage within 3 months after issuance of recommendations and 13% in 1 month.”

Lindley et al on Financing the Delivery of Vaccines to Children and Adolescents: Challenges to the Current System

And Obamacare still requires insurance plans to provide ACIP-recommended vaccines at no charge.

Will Gardasil 9 be added to the immunization schedule for adults?

The extended age indication for Gardasil 9 will be discussed at the next ACIP meeting.
The extended age indication for Gardasil 9 will be discussed at the next ACIP meeting.

We should know sooner, rather than later. It is on the agenda for the next ACIP meeting on October 25…

More on Gardasil for Older Adults

Crisis or Crossroads at the Cochrane Collaboration?

Not surprisingly, Peter Gøtzsche has had some defenders.

“A scandal has erupted within the Cochrane Collaboration, the world’s most prestigious scientific organisation devoted to independent reviews of health care interventions. One of its highest profile board members has been sacked, resulting in four other board members staging a mass exodus.”

Maryanne Demasi, PhD on Cochrane – A sinking ship?

Who is Maryanne Demasi?

“DISCLOSURE: Maryanne Demasi is a science reporter and a researcher working with Prof Peter C. Gøtzsche, the Nordic Cochrane Centre, and was present in Edinburgh at the time of the meeting, but not present in the discussion room.”

Oh…

Someone who works with Peter Gøtzsche is defending him. That doesn’t sound too surprising.

It is also not surprising the way that some folks are describing Peter Gøtzsche’s expulsion, saying that it was only about his behavior and not his work.

Did Peter Gøtzsche get expelled because of his work or behavior?
Did Peter Gøtzsche get expelled because of his work or behavior?

But the problem wasn’t that he wrote a critique of a Cochrane HPV meta-analsysis, but that his critique was so poorly done!

“I think it’s a hatchet job by people with several axes to grind, that needed better editorial peer review. I would be surprised if Cochrane’s investigation and update resulted in changed conclusions.”

Hilda Bastian on The HPV Vaccine: A Critique of a Critique of a Meta-Analysis

A hatchet job by people with several axes to grind…

Not the kind of work you would expect from a member of the Governing Board of the Cochrane Collaboration, especially after most of the same charges were refuted when they were made against the European Medicines Agency.

Did Peter Gøtzsche allow a bias against screening for cancer harm the Cochrane Collaboration?
Did Peter Gøtzsche allow a bias against screening for cancer harm the Cochrane Collaboration?

And it wasn’t even the first time that he was accused of harming the Cochrane Collaboration .

“Cochrane wishes to state unequivocally that the views Professor Gøtzsche has expressed on the benefits and harms of psychiatric drugs are not those of the organization. As primarily a research organization Cochrane does not make clinical recommendations and we have not done so on this issue.”

Statement from Cochrane

How many times has the Cochrane Collaboration had to distance itself from the views of its Board Members?

How many times has the Cochrane Collaboration had to distance itself from the views and work of Peter Gøtzsche and the Nordic Cochrane Collaboration?

More on Peter Gøtzsche

 

Crisis at the Nordic Cochrane Centre

This could be it for the Nordic Cochrane Centre.

“I regret to inform you that I have been expelled from membership in the Cochrane Collaboration by the favourable vote of 6 of the 13 members of the Governing Board. No clear reasoned justification has been given for my expulsion aside from accusing me of causing “disrepute” for the organization.”

Peter Gøtzsche on A moral governance crisis: the growing lack of democratic collaboration and scientific pluralism in Cochrane

Or at least for Peter Gøtzsche and his association with the Cochrane Collaboration, which he co-founded in 1993.

I’m not sure how he thinks that there was no clear justification for his being expelled though.

Crisis at the Nordic Cochrane Centre

Most folks understand why Peter Gøtzsche was expelled from the Cochrane Collaboration…

They remember that he recently published a poorly done analysis in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, The Cochrane HPV vaccine review was incomplete and ignored important evidence of bias that was critical of a Cochrane Review on the HPV vaccine, Prophylactic vaccination against human papillomaviruses to prevent cervical cancer and its precursors, which concluded that the HPV vaccines work and that they are safe.

While Gøtzsche’s analysis prompted the Cochrane Collaboration to initiate an investigation, they concluded that his analysis “substantially overstated its criticisms” and that the allegations were “not warranted and provided an inaccurate and sensationalized report of their analysis.”

Is that it?

Nope.

Many people are also familiar with the Nordic Cochrane Centre because of their involvement in continued complaints about the HPV vaccine. Complaints that were not approved by the Cochrane Collaboration and that were not an official Cochrane viewpoint!

“…we highlight here how academic colleagues, under the purported banner of a respected authority, raise concerns about the HPV vaccine but they cite an evidence base of small and poor quality studies and ignore the extensive wealth of global literature that vividly demonstrate the excellent efficacy and safety record of the vaccine.”

Head et al on Inadvisable anti-vaccination sentiment: Human Papilloma Virus immunisation falsely under the microscope

Complaints that had already been investigated and dismissed by the European Medicines Agency and refuted by many other studies.

“This week at its meeting in Edinburgh, Cochrane’s Governing Board considered, as planned, the findings of an independent review and additional complaints related to the conduct of a Member. The Board’s conclusion was communicated to the individual concerned and is part of an ongoing process. The Co-Chairs of the Board will provide further details once this process is complete.

Following this, four Board members (Gerald Gartlehner, David Hammerstein Mintz, Joerg Meerpohl and Nancy Santesso) decided to resign as Cochrane trustees with immediate effect.”

Message from the Governing Board

Unfortunately, Gøtzsche’s being expelled led to others leaving the Cochrane Governing Board, including two appointed trustees who volunteered to step down to to comply with Cochrane’s Articles of Association.

Although they may not have been defending Gøtzsche's opinions or behaviors, four other board members resigned in solidarity.
Although they may not have been defending Gøtzsche’s opinions or behaviors, four other board members resigned in solidarity.

We can hope that this is the end of the matter, as Cochrane will soon have an election for new board members.

Peter Gøtzsche is out at the Cochrane Collaboration.
Peter Gøtzsche is out at the Cochrane Collaboration.

Will he be kept on at the Nordic Cochrane Centre, which he founded? Will the Nordic Cochrane Centre be allowed to keep ‘Cochrane’ in their name?

The Nordic Cochrane Centre is primarily funded by the Danish Government, and what do they get besides all of the anti-HPV vaccine stuff?

“Antidepressant drugs are another major killer that people could do well without.”

Peter C Gøtzsche: Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death

Peter Gøtzsche seems to be against cancer screening, psychiatric drugs, and thinks that Big Pharma has corrupted health care. Is that the “plurality of opinions, views, and perspectives” that folks want at Cochrane or anywhere else in medicine?

Unfortunately, I bet this isn’t the last that we have heard from him.

More on the Crisis at the Nordic Cochrane Centre