Maybe people are starting to get the point about Gardasil, the utterly needless vaccine that fights the human papillomavirus (HPV) - an STD that can cause cervical cancer. The Big Pharma giant Merck, which makes the drug, has been denied FDA approval for distributing the vaccine women between 27 and 45 years old.

Now if only the FDA could see clearly enough to deny the use of the vaccine to girls as young as eight! After all, the premise of this so-called cervical cancer vaccine is that it prevents HPV … but you can't get HPV without having sex. Which means that it's not likely that many eight-year-olds need it. But this hasn't stopped Merck from targeting kids that young.

But you'll love the reason that the FDA denied the approval of this new usage for the vaccine. Apparently, the agency felt that since Gardasil isn't as effective in older women, Merck could have a tough time convincing insurance companies to cover the vaccine for this group!

I hope you're happy to know that the FDA is just keeping the best interests of Merck in mind during the allegedly rigorous federal drug approval process - heaven forbid that Merck can't count on insurance money to pay for Gardasil doses.

Printer-friendly version