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Free head and neck cancer screenings are offered at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich last year.
Free head and neck cancer screenings are offered at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich last year.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media
Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media
Free head and neck cancer screenings are offered at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich last year.
Free head and neck cancer screenings are offered at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich last year.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media
Op-Ed: Support science and prevent cancer
This month, I testified before the state Legislature’s Public Health Committee. I talked about cancer, vaccines and science. I testified in support of HB 7199, a bill to increase Connecticut’s rates of immunization against human papilloma virus, or HPV. I sat behind a microphone, facing a wide circle of legislators. Dozens of opponents glared, and one aggressively filmed me while I spoke.
HPV is a common infectious disease transmitted through skin-to-skin contact. Nearly all men and women are exposed at some point, and usually unaware of infection. High-risk strains cause cervical, genital, and head and neck cancer, years after infection. For over a decade, we’ve had a magic bullet to prevent these deadly and disfiguring cancers: the HPV vaccine.
This bill would make HPV immunization a school requirement, putting it on par with all other vaccines already required for school entry in Connecticut. As a primary care physician in New Haven and Waterbury, I care for many who “fall through the cracks” with preventative care, for complex socioeconomic reasons. So, school-based immunizations requirements are a crucial public health tool to ensure that children are kept healthy. The utility of giving this vaccine early in childhood, before skin-to-skin contact, is akin to the purpose of seatbelts. Seatbelts protect against injury or death in case of a car accident; this vaccine protects against cancer if exposed to HPV. The Legislature should seize this moment to save Connecticut lives.
As an internist, pediatrician and patient-advocate, I know that all bill-opponents share the same goal as me — to protect children from harm. But I was saddened to see parents victimized by irresponsible online groups that implant conspiratorial thinking about immunizations. Many who testified in opposition to the bill shared flagrant misinformation about vaccines that was inflammatory and misleading for legislators and for the public. Recent studies show that these voices have been amplified by the echo chamber of social media, further turbo-charged by automated bots. These anti-science lies have even prompted Google, Facebook, Amazon and Pinterest to take action against this propaganda.
Vaccine administration is under threat from junk science and fear-mongering. In fact, for 2019, the World Health Organization named “vaccine hesitancy” as one of the top ten global health threats to mankind, alongside climate change and Ebola. At the hearing, vaccine opponents accused the world’s scientific and medical community — made up of experts at the CDC, the World Health Organization and every major government in the world — of recommending a vaccine that harms children. I urge the Legislature to leave this dangerous view behind and instead examine the strong evidence that supports the efficacy and safety of the HPV vaccine.
The truth is that vaccines are the greatest life-saving intervention in modern public health and medicine. We routinely protect children against diseases that used to disable and kill them — diphtheria, polio, tetanus and measles, for example. The vast majority of Connecticut parents do choose to vaccinate their children. And as with all medical interventions, physicians take risks and side effects seriously; that’s why multiple robust clinical trials have demonstrated highly reassuring safety profiles before vaccine approval.
Just as important, vaccine safety is regularly monitored after licensing, both in the U.S. and internationally. VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System), a national passive reporting system for adverse events, is specifically designed to detect signals in vaccine safety, although many misinterpret the VAERS data as confirmation of causality. This is not the case. Instead, VAERS data is thoroughly examined by the CDC and multiple academic institutions to determine any serious side effects.
Let’s talk about what scientific evidence does show. First, to date, there have been no serious side effects found associated with the HPV vaccine. Second, this vaccine works! In Australia, where most girls and boys now receive it, studies show that rates of HPV have dropped from 22 percent to 1 percent for women ages 18-24. Eradication of cervical cancer is predicted by 2060 — in a single generation. Third, school immunization requirements help. In Rhode Island, where HPV vaccine is required for school entry, immunization rates for middle schoolers have reached 90 percent, dwarfing Connecticut’s. Is it fair for a child growing up in our state to be much more at risk for HPV-associated cancer?
Legislators: Please do not miss this opportunity to eliminate cervical, penile, anal and oropharyngeal (head and neck) cancer in our future adults.
Readers: Call or email your legislator today and ask them to prevent cancer and vote for HB 7199.
Hannah Rosenblum is an internist and pediatrician at Yale New Haven Hospital.
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