Commentary: Is mandating HPV vaccinations the right thing to do?

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Michele Bachmann is an idiot but there are a lot of idiots out there who are easily influenced by her nonsensical claims

michele bachmann HPV madmikesamerica

We should take civilized notice of the baseless nonsense that spews from the mouth of Republican Tea Party nutter Michele Bachmann.  If we don’t we’ll always be talking about her just like we are now.  Her recent comments, most likely outright lies, about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine require some attention.

Here are some quick HPV facts from Wikipedia:

HPV is a member of the papillomavirus family of viruses that is capable of infecting humans. Like all papillomaviruses, HPVs establish productive infections only in keratinocytes of the skin or mucous membranes. While the majority of the nearly 200 known types of HPV cause no symptoms in most people, some types can cause warts (verrucae), while others can – in a minority of cases – lead to cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, and anus in women or cancers of the anus and penis in men. It can also cause cancers of the head and neck (tongue, tonsils and throat).

More than 30 to 40 types of HPV are typically transmitted through sexual contact and infect the anogenital region. Some sexually transmitted HPV types may cause genital warts. Persistent infection with “high-risk” HPV types — different from the ones that cause skin warts — may progress to precancerous lesions and invasive cancer HPV infection is a cause of nearly all cases of cervical cancer.

Now let’s get a few things straight: I am NO FAN of Jesus Jumper Rick Perry, but even the most brazen fools are capable of doing one or two things right, and the mandatory human papilloma virus vaccine is one of those things.  This is a terrible disease that has horrendous outcomes, and like fastening seat belts there are those who will never believe you can actually fly through that windshield.

As a result I believe that mandatory HPV vaccinations are absolutely necessary.  In many cases people barely have the sense to come in out of the rain, much less having the independent will and education to determine a good health course for their children.  So, Rick Perry did the right thing by mandating HPV vaccinations.  There! I’ve said it and here’s the story summary:

Doctors are so outraged over the scare story about the HPV vaccine that Michele Bachmann told this week—and so sure it’s baseless—that they’re offering a hefty reward for anyone who can prove it’s true. In two interviews, Bachmann said a crying mother had approached her after Monday’s debate to say that her daughter had “suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine,” according to New York Magazine. Bachmann later backed off, saying she was just repeating what a woman told her.

But that’s not enough for University of Minnesota bioethicist Steve Miles, who has offered a $1,000 reward if the woman Bachmann spoke to can come forward with medical evidence to prove her claim, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. His old boss, the head of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, jumped in and one-upped him, offering a $10,000 bounty. “These types of messages in this climate have the capacity to do enormous public health harm,” Miles explains. “It’s an extremely serious claim.”

Do you think that HPV vaccinations should be required for all of a certain age?  Do you believe Michele Bachmann’s claims that the vaccine causes mental retardation?

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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jenny40
12 years ago

I don’t like the government telling me what to do but in this case I think they have that right. There are so many people who are uninformed of the dangers of HPV that they would ignore a voluntary vaccine. Secondly, there is a lot of crap out there about side-effects which simply isn’t true.

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