Health insurance companies in Oregon are required to cover HPV vaccine
What great news! Oregonlive.com posted an article last night that a bill was just passed in the Oregon legislature stating that health insurance companies are required to pay for HPV (cervical cancer prevention) vaccines for young girls and women. This vaccine, called “Gardasil,” prevents against four strains of HPV and is most effective when administered before girls become sexually active. HPV can lead to cancers in the cervix (cervical cancer) and also the vulva, vagina, and anus in women. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S. The American Social Health Association reports that about 75-80% of sexually active Americans will be infected with HPV at some point in their lifetime.
The bill was passed by the House 40-17, after going through the Senate at a vote of 21-6. Oregon House Representative “Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwauki, noted after the bill was passed that:
It’s a hard cancer to detect. It’s a hard cancer to treat. Certainly, we don’t want our daughters and granddaughters to be in danger of getting this very serious and deadly cancer.
To read the full article from Oregonlive.com, click here.
To read more about House Bill 2794 that was just passed to require health insurance companies to cover HPV vaccinations, click here.
Thanks to Erik J. for the link.
Yay for Oregon! Cost of not getting the HPV vaccine would be like not getting a small pox shot. Educate the women and you educate the world. Danielle Love
I have heard some skepticism about the safety of the vaccine in some feminist circles. (Which I can understand giving the history of Lysol, mandatory drugging during birth, etc.)
Are there some reliable sources with information about this?
Sorry, forgot to add great post! Can’t wait to see your next post!
Hmm, I am wondering about the skepticism that some feminist circles have about the safety vaccine. I know that it hasn’t been around long enough for people to know the long-term affects, but is widely accepted by doctors in the U.S.
Here are a couple of sites to check out the science of HPV:
WebMD
HPV vaccine safety:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vaers/gardasil.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vaers/FDA_and_CDC_Statement.htm
There was a lot of controversy after the HPV vaccine was released in administering it to young girls.
More about the controversy is explained in a Time magazine article. Even the Family Research Council supports it!
Also, I wrote a little bit about HPV when I talked about the scientist Nubia Munoz, who helped to create the HPV vaccine:
http://genderacrossborders.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/dr-nubia-munoz-science-award/
So, what do you think?
wow, it would’ve been nice to not have to have payed $700 for the three shots of gardisil in Ohio….yay Oregon!
Thanks, Emily! Those were helpful. Regardless of each woman/girl’s individual decision about the vaccine, I think it is awesome that Oregon has taken a step to make sure everyone is able to make their own choice without finances getting in the way.