Et tu Katie?
***
A former Playboy Bunny spreading misinformation is bad enough
Tarsell and Mathis are understandably distraught mothers. But Couric is a journalist.
(MORE: Less Is More: One, Instead of Three Doses of HPV Vaccine May Protect Against Cervical Cancer)
The bottom line is that there is no scientific evidence that the HPV vaccine causes adverse effects beyond normal vaccine side effects, such as dizziness, nausea, and pain and redness at the injection site. According to the CDC, from June 2006-March 2013, some 57 million doses of HPV vaccines were distributed. In that period, some 22,000 adverse event were reported in girls and women who had received HPV vaccines; 92% of those were classified as “non serious.”
The risks of HPV, on the other hand, are quite real. Every year, about 12,000 U.S. women get cervical cancer, and HPV is the leading cause. HPV can also cause other cancers like vulvar, vaginal, penile, anal, and neck and throat cancers, which is why the CDC recommends the vaccine for girls and boys aged 11 or 12—before most adolescents become sexually active. CDC data show that roughly 79 million Americans have HPV, and about 14 million people become infected each year. The HPV vaccine can prevent a good number of these infections, and thus millions of potential cases of cancer.
The two HPV vaccines currently available, Gardasil and Cervarix, are both proven safe through clinical trials, independent studies, and post licensure monitoring. The CDC and FDA also continue to track the vaccines’ safety.
And yet Couric has framed the issue as if there were a debate to be had about whether the HPV vaccines are good for the public’s health.
“This kind of coverage is so incredibly irresponsible,” says Seth Mnookin, author of The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy. “The danger of saying we are going to present both sides of an issue, when all of the facts line up on one side, is that as far as the audience is concerned, you are giving these sides equal weight. It presents a false impression that there is a legitimate debate here.”
Physicians and medical organizations like the CDC are continuously forced to dispel myths surrounding vaccines. Giving a platform to claims not based in science makes their jobs much harder and puts people’s lives at risk, as we’ve seen with the resurgence of childhood diseases like Measles and Mumps in places where parents have refused vaccination.
One of Couric’s sources on the program, Dr. Diane Harper, who has studied HPV vaccines, said the vaccine loses efficacy after five years—a claim that research simply does not support. “With that one sentence, she reached who knows how many people who will go out and assume that is true, and tell their friends it is true,” says Mnookin.
Sure, it is possible that Tarsell’s daughter died of a reaction related to the vaccine. Such cases are rare, but possible for any medical procedure. But giving massive publicity to unfounded claims—Couric’s show reaches roughly 2.7 million viewers daily—is very serious.
Take Jenny McCarthy, the actress who is very public about her belief that vaccines play a role in causing autism, even though the link between the two has been debunked time and again. McCarthy’s affiliation with Generation Rescue, an organization that says autism is linked to vaccines, gives her a soapbox to scare parents into reconsidering life-saving vaccinations. McCarthy is not a doctor or scientist, and yet a 2011 survey by the University of Michigan found that 24% of parents say they place “some trust” in information provided by celebrities like McCarthy about vaccine safety.
The damage a former Playboy Bunny has been able to do is bad enough. But Couric’s misdeeds are all the worse given that she’s taken much more seriously than Jenny McCarthy.
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