HPV Vaccine

Our current edition of Nafuu Magazine's cover story is HPV vaccine and the war against cervical cancer. We have highlighted a number of issues that have come up since Kenya
started on a demonstration programme thast is currently underway.

Some concerns have emerged in some countries about the vaccine's efficacy. It has been 
said that in Japan for example although the vaccine is available in the country the government 
does not support its use. There were reports that similar concerns have been raised in Israel
although with muted publicity.

Those against the vaccine say that it causes infertility in women. However experts say that
the critics are getting it all wrong. It is noted that the vaccine has been in use for the last 7 
years and is given to girls in the ages of 9 to 14 years. They estimate that the first reciepients
of the vaccine are probably aged 23 years at the moment. They may or mar mot be married
at the moment but are well within marriageable age bracket. 

The argument is that those are the people who say that the vaccine causes infertility should
be following to prove their case. They say the cricks should undertake medical research on
this group to confirm their position other than going out in the public without proof to cause
alarm among vulnerable populations.

An HPV expert based at the University of Nairobi Medical School says that while it is true that all pharmaceutical products have one side effect or another, experts say, these while looked at against the benefits of a product. Furthermore, she adds, a vaccine is not like your regular cup of coffee that brew in seconds and is ready for intake. 

There is a lot of Science that goes into the making of a vaccine, she says. A lot of medical research with primates and painstaking clinical trials for take many years to observe a product goes into development of a vaccine. And unlike other pharmaceuticals, line pain killers for example, vaccines are biological products whose raw materials have to harvested and and nurtured for a period of time before one could say they have a product.  She says that it is unfortunate that those who critisise do not seem to appreciate the many approvals that have to be met before a vaccine is put in the market.