1 Less- Gardasil Vaccine

When the Gardasil vaccine came out, I remember many of the women I knew were rushing to have their daughters vaccinated. When I refused the vaccine, first at my primary care physician's and then at a doctor here in New York, they acted like I was crazy. I've just never been one to take a medication or vaccine that is so new and to be quite honest, not really necessary. I find it fascinating that the commercial (above) can't even definitely say that the vaccine does what it is supposed to do. The dialogue keeps saying "may protect" and strains of HPV that "might cause" cervical cancer. We've discussed society's relationship to health care so many times in class and I think that this commercial is a perfect example of American society's irrational need to find a fix for everything. Oh, by the way, the vaccine "may not protect everyone". The thing that jumps out at me the most, however, is the language used to talk about what the vaccine protects against. Cancer is the most emphasized word and at the end of the commercial, the vaccine is called the cervical cancer vaccine. This is clearly playing on America's fear of and obsession with cancer. But the vaccine doesn't protect against cancer, it protects against a few (of many) strains of HPV that might cause cancer. It seems to me that society has an insatiable desire to treat peoples' ailments or potential ailments even when we don't fully understand the nature of the problem and/or solution.

P.S. The vaccine can have some pretty scary side effects... ones that the commercial doesn't mention:




And while we're on the topic of unnecessary medical procedures...

I have never been one to get the seasonal flu shot. Maybe it's a West Coast thing or a California thing or a Bay Area thing, but where I grew up, the only people who got flu shots were ones with compromised immune systems. Since coming to New York, I've met perfectly healthy people who get flu shots every winter and several physicians have tried to persuade me to get it. My worst experience was at the NYU Health Center when I was sick earlier this semester. The physician who examined me suggested I get the seasonal flu shot and when I didn't, he tried to guilt me into it by listing all the different people I could get sick and potentially kill by not getting a flu shot. This was fascinating to me because the argument seemed to be framed around the idea that it was my duty to get the vaccine.