no-gardasil
Health Impact News Editor
The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting today that the physician who directs Utah’s Southwest Public Department of Health has decided to exclude the Gardasil HPV vaccine in public health clinics.
Given the fact that national talk show host, Katie Couric, just aired a program this week calling the Gardasil vaccine “controversial,” for which she was widely criticized and attacked by mainstream media who were claiming there was “no controversy” regarding Gardasil, this story breaking in Utah today suggests that even in the U.S., physician support for Gardasil is not as unanimous as the mainstream media would like you to believe.
And this is not even “new” news in Utah, as, “The decision to exclude the vaccine from its public health clinics in Beaver, Iron, Garfield, Kane and Washington counties was made years ago….”
Dr. David Blodgett, the director of the Department of Health, gave the reasons why they are not stocking the controversial Gardasil vaccine in the Salt Lake Tribune:
“The backlash and sentiment against it was strong enough that there’s no reason to go there. No one wants it and it’s too expensive when we’re not funded to provide it.”
Blodgett cites other problems with Gardasil, namely that it was fast-tracked through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a belief that its benefits were oversold by drug maker Merck.
“The science wasn’t good… We had physicians in our community arguing that we not make it available,” said Blodgett.
So this is not a lone doctor crusader expressing doubts about Gardasil, but a reflection of many physicians in the community.
Dr. Blodgett also commented on the patient preferences for this vaccine:
Weighed against the vaccine’s risks, “the public isn’t buying it,” he contends. “It’s eroding public trust in immunization programs.”
So, at least part of the reasoning in not stocking the Gardasil vaccine was because the public did not want it, and the entire public health immunization program’s reputation was at risk. Hardly a comment from someone who is anti-vaccine!
Predictably, the Salt Lake Tribune published a contrary opinion from a local pediatrician, who commented:
“To be dissuaded by cost issues, or to not stock the vaccine due to low public demand, is disingenuous, especially for someone with responsibilities to protect the public.”
This is becoming such a dangerous part of the rhetoric regarding vaccines these days; what the public wants is not important, we doctors have to make these decisions for them because we know better.
This kind of attitude leads to mandatory vaccinations and medical tyranny, which is happening all across the U.S. today. One can only hope that there are more doctors out there like Dr. Blodgett, who will go against the tide of Big Pharma and put patient rights and safety first. With this story today, he may have sacrificed his position as Health Director, and possibly his career as well.