Cervical cancer vaccine sparks debate
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Rating
Cervical cancer vaccine sparks debate
Our Review Summary
This story reports on the movement in some states to make the new HPV vaccine a requirement for all young women. This short piece does a good job of representing the cost, novelty and availability of the vaccine, but fails to mention any harms of the vaccine and does not describe the strength of the evidence to support its use.
Furthermore, the story only quotes one expert, the father of a young girl being vaccinated who happens to be a physician. The story should have quoted additional experts or clinicians who could provide some additional perspective. Although the story does state that the vaccine could reduce HPV-related cervical cancer by 70%, this is not adequate quantification of the benefits. 70% of what? The reader should be informed whether HPV-related cancer accounts for a small or large amount of cancer cases.
Finally, the story avoids disease mongering by not exaggerating the annual number of deaths from cervical cancer. However, the story could have provided more context for these numbers – for example, how common HPV is and how rare it is for HPV infection to lead to cervical cancer.
Criteria
Satisfactory
The story does mention the cost of the vaccine. The story should have compared this cost to the alternative – regular pap smears. This is important information given that women will still need regular pap smears even if they are vaccinated.
Not Satisfactory
Although the story does state that the vaccine could reduce HPV-related cervical cancer by 70%, this is not adequate quantification of the benefits. 70% of what? The reader should be informed whether HPV-related cancer accounts for a small or large amount of cancer cases.
Not Satisfactory
The story does not describe any potential harms of the vaccine.
Not Satisfactory
The story does not describe the strength of the available evidence to support the use of the vaccine.
Satisfactory
The story does not exaggerate the annual number of deaths from cervical cancer. The story could have provided more context for these numbers – for example, how common HPV is and how rare it is for HPV infection to lead to cervical cancer.
Not Satisfactory
The story only quotes one expert, the father of a young girl being vaccinated. The story should have quoted additional experts or clinicians who could provide some additional perspective.
Not Satisfactory
The story does not mention any alternatives, most notably, regular pap smears.
Satisfactory
The story states that the FDA only recently approved the vaccine.
Satisfactory
The story clearly states that the vaccine was only recently approved and that this represents a novel approach to preventing HPV infection.
Not Applicable
We can't be sure if the story relied on a press release as the sole source of information.
Total Score: 4 of 9 Satisfactory
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