Prices Cut for HPV Cervical Cancer Vaccines for Neediest - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/health/prices-cut-for-hpv-cervical-cancer-vaccines-for-neediest.html
Gardasil and Cervarix, given to girls as young as 9, have caused controversy in the United States, where many parents fear side effects and worry that girls will see the vaccines as condoning sex at a young age. The vast majority of girls in the United States have not been inoculated.
In Australia, where the vaccines have been readily accepted, a recent study found a striking drop in cervical abnormalities, which are cancer precursors, among young women. In the five years after the vaccine was introduced there, cases of warts dropped by 93 percent among women and girls under age 21.
Despite the excitement among global health agencies, the charity Doctors Without Borders called the news “disappointing,” arguing that the prices should be even lower. “Why are the pharmaceutical companies still making profits off the backs of the poorest countries?” asked Kate Elder, a vaccines policy specialist at the charity.