WMCA Health Services offers free and low-cost HPV vaccine to males
By admin • Feb 7th, 2010 • Category: HealthWMCA Health Services is pleased to announce that free and low-cost Gardasil, the vaccine to prevent human papilloma virus (HPV) is now available to males at its family planning sites in Farmington, Norway, Lewiston, and Rumford and at the Lewiston STD Clinic. Used in recent years to prevent HPV in women and girls, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of the vaccine to prevent HPV in males.
“The cost of this vaccine has been a huge barrier to folks who have little income and no health insurance,” says Nancy Audet, Program Manager for WMCA Health Services. “We have been providing this service for women and teen girls for some time. We are very excited that we can now offer the same service to men and teen boys.”
The Gardasil vaccine targets types of the HPV virus that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts cases. Gardasil is given as three injections over a period of six months and is ideally given to young people before they become sexually active. However, the vaccine is also for young adults who are already sexually active.
“There’s a common misconception that, ‘Oh, I have been sexually active, it’s too late for me:’ and that’s not the case,” said Sara Hayes, nurse practitioner and clinical director of the program. “HPV is very common; each year about six million people in the U.S. get HPV which can cause genital warts and cancer in both men and women.” Prevention of genital warts is Gardasil’
s primary target for use in males. Experts have also noted that staving off the virus in males could help protect women by preventing further spread of the virus.
“Most people with HPV show no signs or symptoms, but many people do experience genital warts from infection with HPV.” said Kathy Coleman, a nurse practitioner with the program. “This vaccine is the first preventive therapy against warts in boys and men. As a result, fewer men will need to undergo treatment for genital warts.”
In addition to the HPV vaccine, WMCA Health Services provides routine physical exams; birth control counseling and supplies; pregnancy testing and options counseling; emergency contraception; and the testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Fees are based on a sliding fee scale according to household income. People with MaineCare and private insurance are most welcome.
For more information about Gardasil or any of the services offered by WMCA Health Services, call 1-800-587-9354 or check us out online at www.wmca.org.
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Sadly, it is not reported, although well documented, the deadly effects of this controversial drug.
Nineteen deaths of healthy young girls/women in 2009 is not to be ignored.
I am a nurse practitioner at WMCA Health Services and we have given hundreds of Gardasil vaccines to hundreds of young women in the last year and a half. I personally gave my daughter her 3 Gardasil injections. After all of the Gardasils we have given, and those given to my daughter, I remain convinced that Gardasil is safe and prudent immunization to give.
Yes, bad things have happened to some people who have received Gardasil, but there is little if any evidence that severe adverse events are related to the Gardasil. Here is what the Food and Drug Administration has to say. http://cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Vaccines/HPV/gardasil.html .
I am extremely pleased that it is now approved for males. It makes so much sense to immunize both females and males against this virus when both can transmit the virus just as easily.
This approach to “health care” reminds me of the potentially deadly game - Russian Roulette.
The organization Judicial Watch made public data it obtained from the Food and Drug Administration on the documented adverse reactions with Gardasil.
The adverse reactions include 10 deaths since September, 2007. (The total number of death reports is at least 18 and as many as 20.) The FDA also produced 140 “serious” reports (27 of which were categorized as “life threatening”), 10 spontaneous abortions and six cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome – all since January 2008.
You can check Judicial Watch’s press release at: http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2008/jun/judicial-watch-uncovers-new-fda-records-detailing-ten-new-deaths-140-serious-adverse-e
It now being 2010, the picture of Gardasil remains bleak, to say the least.