AP – A new government report adds evidence that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, once labeled dangerous by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is helping prevent cervical cancer in young women.
The report arrives after Kennedy pledged to donate to a relative any fees he might earn from lawsuits connected to the HPV vaccine. In a 2019 video posted on the website of the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy described Gardasil as “the most dangerous vaccine ever invented.”
The new analysis found that from 2008 through 2022, rates of precancerous cervical lesions declined by about 80% among women aged 20 to 24 who underwent cervical cancer screening. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the estimates on Thursday.
HPV is extremely common and is transmitted through sexual activity. Most HPV infections cause no symptoms and clear up on their own without treatment. Others progress to cancer, totaling roughly 37,000 cases per year in the United States, according to the CDC.
Women in their 20s are the demographic most likely to have received the HPV vaccine, which has been recommended in the United States since 2006 for girls at ages 11 or 12 and since 2011 for boys of the same age. Booster doses are recommended for anyone up to 26 years old who has not yet been vaccinated.
Jane Montealegre of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who did not participate in the study, said the decline was pronounced and attributed it to the growing uptake of the HPV vaccine, which she described as safe and effective.
“This should reassure parents that they are doing the right thing by vaccinating their children against HPV,” Montealegre, a cancer-prevention researcher, said.
Other countries have also reported decreasing rates of cervical precancers in younger groups with higher vaccination rates, she added. The United States does not maintain a national registry but estimates nationwide trends by monitoring five sites.
Kennedy’s financial ties to lawsuits against the HPV vaccine’s manufacturer were scrutinized during his confirmation hearings. Since then, the secretary has told lawmakers that he has referred hundreds of clients to the law firm pursuing the vaccine manufacturer, Merck, in an arrangement where he would be entitled to 10% of any contingency fees awarded.
One of Kennedy’s sons, Conor, works as an attorney at that firm, WisnerBaum. In an amended ethics agreement, Kennedy said he would turn over any fees earned from HPV vaccine litigation to “an adult relative who is not a dependent.”
