This op-ed-style piece 
about the safety of the Gardasil vaccine is to be commended for paying attention to a study with negative findings. Negative studies aren’t as sexy as research that reports amazing or frightening new effects from medical interventions, but the mundane finding of “no difference” is often the reality of medical research and a result that readers need to hear about more often.
The message here is sound, but we wish the story had followed some practices that would have buttressed the author’s viewpoint and thereby made the piece more useful for readers. These include: quantifying the benefits of the vaccine and its cost; describing the results of the study that’s the basis for the piece and the quality of evidence it reports; and seeking out an independent voice to comment on the findings.
The safety of Gardasil matters because it protects against cervical, vaginal, vulvar and anal cancer, and more than 178 million doses of it have been dispensed worldwide since it entered the marketplace eight years ago.
No mention was made of the cost of the vaccine.
The story focuses on safety to the exclusion of efficacy. It does not say which strains of HPV Gardasil protects against or how effective it is.at preventing the cancers those strains cause. It does not tell the reader that the more recently formulated vaccine, Gardasil 9, has expanded the protection conferred by the earlier version.
The story notes the vaccine is not associated with serious adverse effects sometimes attributed to it (e.g. multiple sclerosis). It mentions that syncope and possibly skin rash are thought to be side effects of the vaccine. Ideally, the story would have provided more information about how frequently these effects are seen (the main objective of the study being reported on).
The story says nothing about the quality of the evidence — i.e., that the researchers reached their conclusions by reviewing data accumulated in a number of studies carried out since the vaccine’s approval. There are no details provided regarding the methodology of these studies or their strengths and limitations.
The story’s assertion that cervical cancer causes 4,000 deaths each year in the United States is backed up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that number doesn’t really give much sense of one’s overall lifetime risk of developing the disease and whether the disease is common or relatively rare. It would have been useful to know, comparatively, how common cervical cancer is and how it ranks in relation to other cancers.
There is no independent voice included, nor does the story alert readers to the fact that Merck funded the study. Drug company funding is obligatory for post-marketing surveillance data of this type. So while it’s worth mentioning, such funding is arguably not as important as when a company funds a study with glowing findings on a new unapproved device or drug.
The story notes that abstinence, if it worked, could obviate the need for the vaccine.
The story notes that more than 178 million doses of the vaccine have been dispensed, meaning that it is readily available.
The story notes that the study driving the coverage is “new,” but beyond that doesn’t establish what is different or interesting about this research compared with previous studies.
There’s enough context here that we can be sure the story does not rely on a news release.
Systematic, Criteria-Driven
Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
Comments (1)
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Laurence Alter
August 5, 2015 at 4:53 amDear Reviewers:
Enlighten me. Explain the basis for the truism that, to quote your appraisal, “Negative reviews aren’t as sexy as research that reports amazing or frightening new effects.” First, “frightening” sounds pretty damn negative to me: it means something to fear, and that sounds positively negative.
Next, is my major objection to this truism: it appears that the other piece of conventional wisdom does not apply: ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ [in reference to dramatic news of a bloody character]. How do you reconcile these two truisms? Furthermore, it appears that people would be genuinely interested in learning of poor-performing drugs: both for interests of self-interest and in general. Sadly, sad news sells.
Yours,
Laurence
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like