EU Urged To Vaccinate Girls Against Cervical Cancer Reuters October 5, 2006

An editorial in Lancet recommends that member states of the European Union mandate the vaccination of 11-12 year old girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV), a major cause of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is diagnosed in 470,000 women each year and is the cause of death in 230,000.

The European Commission last week licensed the first HPV vaccine (Gardasil) for use in children aged 9–15 years and women aged 16–26 years. The vaccine has already been used in the United States in girls as young as nine and women up to the age of 26.

The Lancet editorial also noted growing support for vaccinating boys as well as girls but held off this recommendation pending more data from clinical trials.

Commentary

Compulsory vaccination is interesting arena for patient compliance. This nexus of government and medicine highlights the inherent conflict between private freedoms and the public good. Consequently, competent medical advice should be a necessary but not sufficient element in a political entity’s decision to demand any medical procedure, including preventive ones such as vaccination. Lancet’s endorsement of the cervical cancer vaccination certainly qualifies as competent medical advice. How the countries making up the European Union react to this recommendation by a medical source that is medically reputable and publicly prestigious but unendorsed by any government.

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