More fun from the NYT in the spirit of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers (but in this crappy economy, a hopeful tagline: Chronic stress changes the brain, but relaxation can change it back.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18angier.html

When the HPV Vaccine first came out, I produced a story for the Women’s International News Gathering Service about pros and cons of the vaccine.  A recent article in the NYT summarizes recent evidence published in JAMA about the vaccine’s safety.  The basic take-home message from CDC and FDA was that the vaccine is safe.  As summarized by the NYT, the counter argument suggested that the vaccine might not be as essential if girls receive routine pap-screening throughout their adult lives:

From the NYT: “There are not a huge number of side effects here, that’s fairly certain,” said the editorial writer, Dr. Charlotte Haug, an infectious disease expert from Norway, about the vaccine. “But you are giving this to perfectly healthy young girls, so even a rare thing may be too much of a risk.

“I wouldn’t accept much risk of side effects at all in an 11-year-old girl, because if she gets screened when she’s older, she’ll never get cervical cancer,” Dr. Haug said in an interview. “You don’t have to die from cervical cancer if you have access to health care.”  (NYT, August 18, 2009)

That’s all well and good if you live in Norway (or any other place where girls, women and the rest of society have good access to health care), so here’s hoping that Obama and the rest of our government can bring us up to modern standards and provide adequate care for all.