The HPV vaccine prevents cervical cancer... but?

its optimally given to 12 year olds and above. Mostly due to the consideration post that age theyll have started experimenting with sex and whatnot. Can 18+ female virgins still get it? Does it still work? Is it effective. Cervical cancer is a pretty horrific disease; and Im just wondering about this.

There is no clinical evidence that GARDASIL prevents cervical cancer. Nor is cervical cancer particularly horrific or prevalent as cancers go. 18+ virgins are more likely to be hit by lightning twice than the get cervical cancer. GARCASIL offers protection against four nasty stains of HPV -- 2 that cause warts and 2 that cause cervical growths that once in a while (typically many years later) may become cancerous -- for an unknown period of time.

The Facts About GARDASIL

1) GARDASIL is a vaccine for 4 strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), two strains that are strongly associated (and probably cause) genital warts and two strains that are typically associated (and may cause) cervical cancer. About 90% of people with genital warts show exposure to one of the two HPV strains strongly suspected to cause genital warts. About 70% of women with cervical cancer show exposure to one of the other two HPV strains that the vaccine is designed to confer resistance to.

2) HPV is a sexually communicable (not an infectious) virus. When you consider all strains of HPV, over 70% of sexually active males and females have been exposed. A condom helps a lot (70% less likely to get it), but has not been shown to stop transmission in all cases (only one study of 82 college girls who self-reported about condom use has been done). For the vast majority of women, exposure to HPV strains (even the four 鈥渂ad ones鈥?protected for in GARDASIL) results in no known health complications of any kind.

3) Cervical cancer is not a deadly nor prevalent cancer in the US or any other first world nation. Cervical cancer rates have declined sharply over the last 30 years and are still declining. Cervical cancer accounts for less than 1% of of all female cancer cases and deaths in the US. Cervical cancer is typically very treatable and the prognosis for a healthy outcome is good. The typical exceptions to this case are old women, women who are already unhealthy and women who don鈥檛 get pap smears until after the cancer has existed for many years.

4) Merck鈥檚 clinical studies for GARDASIL were problematic in several ways. Only 20,541 women were used (half got the 鈥減lacebo鈥? and their health was followed up for only four years at maximum and typically 1-3 years only. More critically, only 1,121 of these subjects were less than 16. The younger subjects were only followed up for a maximum of 18 months. Furthermore, less than 10% of these subjects received true placebo injections. The others were given injections containing an aluminum salt adjuvant (vaccine enhancer) that is also a component of GARDASIL. This is scientifically preposterous, especially when you consider that similar alum adjuvants are suspected to be responsible for Gulf War disease and other possible vaccination related complications.

5) Both the 鈥減lacebo鈥?groups and the vaccination groups reported a myriad of short term and medium term health problems over the course of their evaluations. The majority of both groups reported minor health complications near the injection site or near the time of the injection. Among the vaccination group, reports of such complications were slightly higher. The small sample that was given a real placebo reported far fewer complications 鈥?as in less than half. Furthermore, most if not all longer term complications were written off as not being potentially vaccine caused for all subjects.

6) Because the pool of test subjects was so small and the rates of cervical cancer are so low, NOT A SINGLE CONTROL SUBJECT ACTUALLY CONTRACTED CERVICAL CANCER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM 鈥?MUCH LESS DIED OF IT. Instead, this vaccine鈥檚 supposed efficacy is based on the fact that the vaccinated group ended up with far fewer cases (5 vs. about 200) of genital warts and 鈥減recancerous lesions鈥?(dysplasias) than the alum injected 鈥渃ontrol鈥?subjects.

7) Because the tests included just four years of follow up at most, the long term effects and efficacy of this vaccine are completely unknown for anyone. All but the shortest term effects are completely unknown for little girls. Considering the tiny size of youngster study, the data about the shortest terms side effects for girls are also dubious.

8) GARDASIL is the most expensive vaccine ever marketed. It requires three vaccinations at $120 a pop for a total price tag of $360. It is expected to be Merck鈥檚 biggest cash cow of this and the next decade.

These are simply the facts of the situation as presented by Merck and the FDA. Source(s): #

My source is Merck and the FDA:

http://www.fda.gov/cber/label/hpvmer0608...

Also see:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht...

and

http://www.straight.com/article/vaccines...
http://journals.humanapress.com/index.ph...

Anyone who has never had sex can get it so yes go get the vaccine and get protected.
yes, it works. 18 year olds are the perfect age for this!

go get it. it could save your life!
Anyone can get the vaccine. But, it won't do any good if you have been exposed to the virus already.
If you haven't fooled around yet, go ahead and get it. Cervical cancer is a killer.
ask your doctor but it is a good idea