Prejudicial distribution of the HPV vaccine

Release of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on the market sparked controversy: Teen girls, sex, politics, religion, and cancer intersected in the push to inject the vaccine into arms. The focus of this paper is the mythology of the vaccine, and the means in which various standpoints have created a discourse about HPV vaccine. I draw my findings from a qualitative discourse analysis of the public discussion and debate about the vaccine, including such literature as biomedical journal articles, newspaper articles and opinion pieces, blogs, internet sites devoted to the HPV or other vaccines (both pro and anti), and pharmaceutical company literature, to explore manipulation in the discursive practices of collective representation. I do not intend to argue against HPV vaccine as a protection against cervical or other cancers. Certainly the vaccine is to be credited for saving women's lives, particularly in areas where access to preventive health care is low. Rather, this work explores the collective representations surrounding the vaccine. At issue is a medical intervention, yet this intervention is laden with social meanings. The HPV vaccine is the only vaccine to be targeted toward women. This targeting has resulted in a language of manipulation and, in the case of school-based mandates, outright coercion. The discourse is filled with a variety of threats to further the aim of powerful social groups, including those interested in vaccinating women, such as pharmaceutical companies, physicians, and public health, and those in protest of the vaccine, such as some fundamentalist religious groups and vaccine safety organizations. Adapted from the source document.