Hundreds of female students are getting vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) at the University of Denver’s Health and Counseling Center because of growing concerns about cervical cancer.
“The vaccine has been popular to the extent where we cannot keep the shot here, we run out,” declared Katie Dunker from DU’s Health and Counseling Center.
The Gardasil vaccine is given in a series of three shots, one shot at day zero, one shot at day 60, and one shot at day 180. The DU Health Center offers the vaccine free to students who have the University of Denver’s health insurance.
Without insurance the DU Health center charges $130 per shot, $390 for the whole series. Without insurance Walgreens charges $175 for one shot, $525 for the whole series.
“Really the Gardasil vaccine protects against 70 percent of all cervical cancer,” said Dunker.
However, the Gardasil vaccine has had opposition. Organizations such as the Christian Coalition of Florida are worried that the vaccine promotes promiscuity. While other people fear that mandatory vaccination in middle schools, discussed by some Colorado lawmakers, would be too expensive.
The Gardasil vaccine protects young women against four strains of the sexually transmitted HPV that cause genital warts and cervical cancer. The vaccine is only administered to women ages nine to 26 (though Merck is testing Gardasil on older women) but men also contract HPV.
“In the U.S. 20 million people are currently infected,” according to Shari Bohn, a Walgreens’ Pharmacy representative.
However, the virus can go undetected. Dunker said that the virus can remain dormant and not affect some people for years and will never affect others.
“Most cases of HPV will go away on its own, but some people will have HPV and don’t even know they have it,” stated Dunker.
Bohn also said that there will be another 6.2 million new cases of HPV this year in the U.S. According to Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil, about 10 women die every day from cervical cancer and 10,000 women a year are diagnosed. HPV is detected through abnormal Pap smears in women but also can manifest itself as genital warts in both women and men.
Both Walgreens and DU’s Health Center say the vaccine is being well accepted by young women but some students are wary of the vaccine.
“I think it’s really good that they’ve created it [the Gardasil vaccine] but I’m a little concerned because it’s so new,” said senior Claire Pelley.
Merck says the vaccine is over 99 percent effective with minimal side effects. Their studies have shown that almost all of their test subjects were protected against the four types of high risk HPV.
“In a lot of cases it would be taboo to talk about a sexually transmitted disease vaccine but a lot of people are excited,” said Dunker.
