Re: [asa] Re: [ASA] Mandatory HPV vaccination

I chair the ethics committe of our local hospital, and we
just had a meeting discussing this topic today.

Some new thoughts on the matter:

1) Cervical cancer is a serious, preventable disease, that
for whatever reason is "under the radar" of the general
public, and is a more serious threat to the public health
than is often considered. For example it causes 3 times
as many deaths per year than hepatitis B does.

2) Speaking of Hepatitis B, vaccination for this is
mandatory in many states, and it is for the most part a
sexually transmitted disease, and is just as expensive as
HPV vaccine.

3) The pediatricians that were present were very concerned
about the cost. For a group of 7 or 8 pediatricians, it
would cost about $100,000 to purchase enough vaccine to
cover all of their patients, and the insurance
reimbursement would not cover all of the costs associated
with giving the vaccine that include the cost of the
vaccine, the cost of storage, record keeping,
administration, etc. In other words the pediatrician
would actually be paying to administer it.

4) If a state is going to mandate vaccination they need to
make sure that they have considered the ways that the
vaccine is going to be administered and paid for. They
also need to make the opt out mechanism simple and free.

As an editorial comment, my impression from the group at
large was that most present were clearly on the side of
making this vaccine mandatory. Cervical cancer is a bad
disease that can be prevented, and even wiped out with
this vaccine, the evidence supports this vaccine as being
safe and effective, and the cost of treating cervical
cancer would likely exceed the cost of the vaccine.

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Received on Wed Feb 7 14:52:03 2007