Health & Medicine - Posted by Nick Hanson-Minnesota on Thursday, November 18, 2010 12:58 - 5 Comments
Media sways support for HPV vaccine

Public support for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine declines when it is linked to controversy, despite wide support for the vaccine in both the medical and public health communities. (Credit: Flickr Creative Commons)
U. MINNESOTA (US) — Controversy surrounding state laws that require young girls to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus diminishes public support for the vaccine.
News coverage about HPV vaccine requirements tends to amplify the controversy, possibly leading to negative attitudes among the public about the value of the HPV vaccine or even about other vaccines, according to a new study.
Researchers conducted an Internet-based survey to a randomly selected sample of participants representative of the U.S. population.
Participants were assigned to two groups who were then exposed to two different hypothetical news briefs about legislative action related to the HPV vaccine: one that presented the HPV vaccine as enjoying widespread support and the other positioning the vaccine as controversial.
Details appear in the November issue of the journal Health Affairs.
The study, the first of its kind to examine directly the tie between controversy about a piece of health policy portrayed in the news media and public support for the policy, suggests that prolonged exposure to controversy has the potential to erode public support for the policy.
“This research raises important questions about how the news media’s tendency to report on controversy shapes public opinion about health policy,” says Sarah Gollust, assistant professor of public health at the University of Minnesota.
Researchers also found that while support for HPV vaccine legislation waned in the shadow of controversy, support for other vaccines remained unchanged, an encouraging finding, Gollust says.
Some public health experts have worried that publicized controversy over the HPV vaccine could lead to public concerns about other childhood vaccines, a particularly important issue because of recent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like whooping cough and measles.
More news from University of Minnesota: http://www1.umn.edu/news/
Please wait
5 Comments
Christine Richardson
All vaccines used in the United States are required to go through years of extensive safety testing before they are licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Once in use, they are continually monitored for their safety and effectiveness.
People interested in this and other vaccines should seek information from the NIH, the FDA and CDC.
The comments by Leslie are typical of those who zealously attack all vaccines because they have absolutely no understanding of immunology or the process by which new vaccines are manufactured, tested and how they work. They read incredibly irresponsible web, blog sites like the ones she cites, full of anecdotal horror stories. This attitude is dangerous, and is a public health problem.
Leslie, you surely understand that two things can happen fairly close in time, yet have absolutely nothing to do with one another. Or not? Carol had her second vaccine today. On her way home from the clinic, she was hit by a bus and died. No doubt for Leslie, the vaccine killed her.
Christine, maybe “Carol” had a seizure on her way home which is why she was hit by a bus.
My 16 year old daughter was injured by the Gardasil vaccine. All of these girls that have health issues after gardasil have 1 thing in common…Gardasil. their smptoms are all the same…some worse than others.
I take offense to your attitude towards Leslie. She HAS done her research, along with other mothers with Gardasil injured girls. The research has been extensive.
So please don’t post of things you have no idea of. I’ve researched for the last year and a half. After my daughter received 2 of the 3 jabs of gardasil, she began having leg and arm numbness and tingling, pressure headaches, backaches, vision disturbances, stomach issues, breathing problems (she stopped breathing 3 times), extreme fatigue, brain fog…the list is long. She has never had health issues and was always happy and healthy and smart. She has suffered since March 2009. Her symptoms are the same as other gardasil injured girls all over the world.
We are not freaks…neither are we liars! This is the TRUTH what our girls are having t go through. I am very offended from your post.
It seems that if we take a faulty vaccine and give it great media attention then they can sell it. We have rcently read where THE MORE EDUCATED HIGHER CLASS ARE THE ONES REFUSING VACCINES…
Thank you Teresa for your support.
Christine – with all of the negative media in the world and the quick sword of judgment used to slay those who have the courage to speak – why would I even risk 30 years of my work, research and professional reputation to raise my voice on this – if I had not done the research.
Check out the 2008 FDA Closing Statement on Gardasil where is states that 73.3% of girls in the clinical trials developed a new medical condition – and the conditions are listed: (pg. 137)
http://holyhormones.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2010/11/gardasil091108.pdf
Even the FDA is looking into how many girls received the vaccine and had a driving -related incident/accident/death due to a seizure. They brought up this statement in a conversation – I did not.
Michael – the highly educated group are the girls who are being targeted for the vaccine- so the ripple effect from seeing someone adversely injured spreads quickly. And of course, they have access to more information. The unsettling issue is – that these girls are generally more healthy because of awareness, diet, fitness etc. And if they are having adverse reactions and deaths from the vaccines – what will happen to those receiving the vaccine from low-income clinics and third world countries with weakened/compromised immune systems due to poor hygiene and nutrition.
I understand “herd immunity” and survival of the fittest etc. However, the concern should be that the healthy are affected from this vaccine – the ones who under most any other condition would survive an external attack on their body. If the healthy are afflicted – then what will happen to the unhealthy? The herd immunity from the HPV vaccines is skewed.
























For more information and research about the potential dangers of the HPV vaccines go to
http://sanevax.org and http://truthaboutgardasil.org.
With over 20,000 adverse reactions and 84 deaths (1 to 10% of the population reporting) it is not hard to see why the public is questioning the use of the vaccines on otherwise healthy adolescent girls.
The Internet has provided access to research into Merck, CDC, NCI and FDA documents that provide the background to understand the politics and the faulty science that went into the development of the vaccines.
Although SANE Vax and Truth About Gardasil have presented data and research to the FDA to back up our concerns – we decided to take this fight to the media and to the social media networks – to educate parents about the potential dangers of Gardasil and Cervarix.
All we want is an independent study on the safety and efficacy of the HPV vaccines. It is in the public’s best interest to know why these girls have been severely afflicted post-vaccination.
It took 30 years for an independent study on the dangers of HRT. We cannot afford to lose yet another generation of women to a medical experiment gone bad.