This is a really sloppy article with a number of factual errors:<p>1) there is not &quot;a vaccine&quot;, there are SEVERAL, each with different spans of effect.<p>2) &quot;a vaccine with no serious safety issues, that <i>prevents cancer</i>.&quot;
Um no, not nearly that simple.  Not all such cancers are caused by HPV.  What <i>would</i> be true to say, assuming perfect efficacy, would be &quot;a vaccine with no known safety issues (true enough: since it&#x27;s a genetic vaccine, unlike an influenza vaccine) that prevents cancer <i>caused by an HPV strain that is targeted by the vaccine</i> IF the full course and schedule of treatment is followed.&quot;<p>3) &quot;Human Papillomaviruses cause several cancers, including the cervical cancer that kills 4,000 women each year.&quot;  Actually, cervical cancer can occur absent any HPV infection.<p>4) &quot;Most people get the HPV virus&quot; is wrong.  Most <i>American women</i> show exposure.  Not the same thing.<p><pre><code>   ---</code></pre>
The problem with HPV vaccines is not in the science, it&#x27;s in the <i>marketing.</i>  If you were a parent who followed the &quot;expert&quot; instructions from the beginning, here is what happens:<p>1) You have your child get Cervarix.  Then get it again a few months later.  Then again a few months later.  OK, great, now that all that money is spent, she is protected, right?  Um, not exactly.  She is protected from Types 16 and 18 (assuming perfect efficacy).<p>2) Gardasil comes out.  It protects against <i>four</i> strains -- the course of treatment you&#x27;ve already paid for and executed over 6 months is already obsolete.  Now, you do <i>another</i> course of 3 injections over <i>another</i> 6 months to add protection from Types 6 and 11.  Now, a year, 6 shots, and thousands later, she is protected from 4 types.<p>3) Gardasil 9 comes out.  It protects against <i>nine</i> strains -- the courses of treatment you&#x27;ve already paid for and executed over 6 months are <i>again</i> already obsolete.  Now, you do <i>another</i> course of 3 injections over <i>another</i> 6 months to add protection from Types 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58.  Now, a year and a half, 9 shots, and <i>more</i> thousands later, she is protected from 9 types.<p>But there are <i>13 types</i> that we <i>know of</i> that cause cervical cancer alone; other subtypes could end up causing cervical or other cancers as well.  So you <i>know</i> she is unprotected from at least four more cancer-causing subtypes... and, no doubt, you will be a sucker who buys another course of treatment later.<p>This is Planned Obsolescence that makes 20th-century Detroit look like amateurs.  GlaxoSmithKline and Merck thank you for your gullibility and generosity.<p>Anyway, ditch this article.  The FDA has a better info page here:
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cancer.gov&#x2F;about-cancer&#x2F;causes-prevention&#x2F;risk&#x2F;infectious-agents&#x2F;hpv-vaccine-fact-sheet#q5" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cancer.gov&#x2F;about-cancer&#x2F;causes-prevention&#x2F;risk&#x2F;in...</a>