Health conscious Yalies rallied to get the HPV vaccine covered by their University. Sadly, the shot that prevents cervical cancer is still expensive and hard to access for many of the people who need it most. I have been putting off getting the vaccine myself because of the hefty price tag. When I last went to my personal GYN she wanted me to look into other options for getting the shot because she didn’t want to have to charge me the $200 a shot her practice has to charge to make it available.
I think it is ridiculous that schools aren’t prioritizing giving students access to a shot that can save lives. Everyone knows college campuses are breeding grounds for HPV transmission. Protection from cervical cancer should not be something that only affluent students deserve. We are all worthy of having access to adequate health care no matter how heavy our wallets are. There needs to be a call to action on campuses nationwide to promote equal access and school coverage of the vaccine.
http://www.campusprogress.org/tools/1641/give-it-a-shot
3 responses so far ↓
1 TCD // Jun 22, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I think the HPV vaccine is a good thing, and everybody who wants it should be able to get it, However, it is important to remember that the shot does not prevent all cervical cancer.
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http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV-vaccine.htm
“What does the vaccine not protect against?
Because the vaccine does not protect against all types of HPV, it will not prevent all cases of cervical cancer or genital warts. About 30% of cervical cancers will not be prevented by the vaccine, so it will be important for women to continue getting screened for cervical cancer (regular Pap tests). Also, the vaccine does not prevent about 10% of genital warts—nor will it prevent other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). So it will still be important for sexually active adults to reduce exposure to HPV and other STIs.”
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2 Randra // Jun 24, 2007 at 2:03 pm
This is one of the sad habits of our country. Women’s birth control pills (first marketed in the 60s/70s) were not covered by insurance policies until the advent of Viagra, which was immediately adopted in insurance plans. Hopefully we won’t have to wait for them to discover a vaccine for testicular cancer…
3 Jamia // Jun 25, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Thanks TCD for putting up that excellent link. I am scheduled to get the shot in July and I need to read up as much as I can before hand.
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