Bishop is right about HPV (perhaps for the wrong reasons)

[letter to the Calgary Herald, not published, as usual]

Bishop Henry might be right about HPV. Reading from the 2008 Nobel Committee citation, in which the scientist who first claimed that HPV is the cause of cervical cancer was lauded for his scientific achievements, shows that the Bishop is right to be cautious. The committee said, "discoveries whether these vaccines are effective in preventing not only against cervical lesions [i.e. non-cancerous changes] but also cervical cancer and death must await the collection of epidemiological data during the coming decades." So, it is clear, from the best possible source, that the HPV vaccine has not been proven to reduce the already very small risk of cervical cancer. Furthermore, at least half the population (and possibly all the population) must accept another small risk (of vaccine side effects which, occasionally, can be severe), a risk that becomes significant when multiplied by the millions of people who face that risk when they take the vaccine.