First McArdle on Gardisil:
As it happens, the arguments in favor of Gardasil are pretty strong:HPV causes most of the cervical cancer in this country. Gardasil and Cervarix, the two approved HPV vaccines, protect against the two most common strains, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer in this country, as well as the two strains most commonly found in genital warts.HPV is not rare; the CDC estimates that at least half of all people who ever have sex will get it. You cannot protect your children from it by ensuring that they have strong moral foundations–unless you plan to also guarantee that the person they marry has never had sexual contact with another person. Even devout Christians who are home-schooled and go to an evangelical college can have a moment of weakness–and of course, Christianity is supposed to welcome people who have found Christ later in life.HPV is no longer confined to cervical cancer. Presumably thanks to a boom in the popularity of oral sex, which has gone from a minority taste in the 1950s to part of the standard repertoire of most couples, HPV is now popping up in an increasing number of head and neck cancers, as well as anal cancers (mostly among gay men). Unlike cervical cancers, we don’t do routine screenings for throat cancer, so this may soon be a bigger problem than cervical cancer.HPV may not even be a traditional STD much longer. No one seems to know whether oral transmission is possible–Iknow that with oral gonorrhea, it’s pretty rare, because the bacteria only infect the throat, not the lips and tongue. But if the oral transmission route is possible–as it is with herpes–then your kid might get cancer through french kissing.The primary purpose of vaccination is not necessarily to protect the vaccinated individual …The vaccine is extremely effective, and the reported side effects incredibly low.
Then Preston on the story of Heather Burcham, a 31 year old who died of cervical cancer, but not before being a key Perry ally in the fight to defend the mandate:
Fox aired this interview earlier today, with two friends of Heather Burcham. She died at the age of 31 due to cervical cancer, but in her last months she became an advocate for Gardasil, the 100% effective HPV vaccine. Gov. Rick Perry and Heather Burcham became friends in her dying months. Though he was governor at the time, Perry made time to check in on Burcham and visited her away from the glare of the press.Watch the interview with Burcham’s friends, and decide for yourself if anything that Michele Bachmann has said about Perry, crony capitalism and Gardasil makes any sense.
And of course, read/watch the whole thing(s).
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