This is excellent information and the sort of rational rather than emotional reasoning we need to make health care policy decisions. May I also include some thought I wrote as part of the discussion in my own com box:

Here's something to think about when listening to drug companies. Remember they are trying to sell you something. If you listen to Merck, being diagnosed with cervical cancer leads to all kinds of horrendous outcomes. If you listen to the folks who sell cervical cancer treatment they will tell you effectively treating cervical cancer is a piece of cake. The truth is somewhere in the middle.If a woman is getting regular pap smears any cancerous or pre-cancerous changes would most likely be detected very early and treatment is fairly simple. When companies start spouting about the cervical cancer death rate they need to specify how many of those deaths were in patients with a complicating illness like AIDS or in women who did not have regular Pap smears. Those are the populations that are suffering the most deaths from cervical cancer today.
Catholic Mom | Homepage | 02.11.07 - 10:33 am | #

An excellent summary ... thanks!
Julie D. | Homepage | 02.11.07 - 1:26 pm | #

Julie, can you tell us who the author of these comments is? While I like his/her conclusions, it would be helpful to know, just to be sure that I'm not just buying something because it matches confirms my opinon.

Happy day,
Anne
Anne | Homepage | 02.11.07 - 3:23 pm | #

The comment I linked to is all that I have.

Care to de-lurk, commenter?
Julie D. | Homepage | 02.11.07 - 4:40 pm | #

Well all that is well and good, but folks, don't forget the real issue here is freedom not economics!
It is immoral and unjust to force these free young women to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease when most of them are virgins.... Even if the gorram project saved billions of dollars! This is one step closer to tyrannical government and they ought not get away with it.
Compulsory vaccination, who ever heard? Freakin' health nazis!
Tim from Las Vegas | Homepage | 02.12.07 - 6:24 am | #

the real issue here is freedom not economics

I think there is more than one important issue here as this is a complex issue. Indeed a very important one is freedom, however, the economics is important also.
Julie D. | Homepage | 02.12.07 - 7:16 am | #