You are viewing a single comment's thread from:

RE: Higher Rates of Gardasil Vaccination Correlate with Higher Rates of Cervical Cancer

in #vaccines6 years ago (edited)

"There are more than one hundred and twenty kinds of human papillomavirus (HPV), and fifteen are considered to be at high risk because they can cause cancers including HPV 16 and 18 causing 70% of infections."

Dr. Delépine explains that there is no strong evidence Gardasil protects against cancer, and points out that it only targets 2-5% of the 200 known strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV).

So I guess one important question would be does the 2-5% of the the known strains of HPV targeted by the vaccine overlap with the 15 high risk strains? According to the Wikipedia page on Gardasil it does making the fact that it only targets 2-5% of the total strains completely irrelevant.

But this only demonstrates a statistical correlation between presence of HPV and cancer, without anyone being so far able to demonstrate a direct CAUSALITY link.

And then goes on to make an argument based on statistical correlation that the vaccine causes cancer. However, the assertion that a statistical correlation is the only evidence that HPV causes cancer is untrue. The process by which certain strains of HPV cause cancer is fairly well understood.

In addition, the U.K. graph doesn't even seem to indicate a statistical correlation with Gardasil and an increase in cancer. There was a sharp rise but it dropped sharply again. It's also important to note that cancer is a disease that typically develops many years after exposure to whatever causes it. After becoming infected with HPV, it is typically 10-30 years before cancer develops. How are any of the current statistical correlations with the vaccine and cancer even relevant given how long it takes for cancer to develop and the relatively short amount of time this vaccine has been widely used? Whether the vaccine causes or prevents cancer, you aren't going to see that data in the year or two following an increase in use. It would be many years down the road.

My guess is that if there is a statistical correlation, it was brought on by an increased awareness after the introduction of the vaccine and more people being diagnosed in a shorter period of time. That might explain why the U.K. graph had a sharp rise and then dropped again sharply in a short amount of time. I wouldn't expect to see a noticeable drop on the graph due to the vaccine until at least 2019 (assuming vaccination started in 2009) and wouldn't reach it's new normal level until 2039.

I don't know if Gardasil is safe or not but this article makes some pretty questionable arguments and the available solid data would seem to indicate that it is safe. HPV causes 70% of cervical cancer and also causes other kinds of cancer to a lesser but still very significant degree. A vaccine is a good thing.

Sort:  

I see, thanks for the analysis :) The vaccine is not necessarily a good thing though. There some women who become infertile among other injuries.