Gardasil by Lobato Helen

Author:Lobato, Helen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spinifex Press
Published: 2017-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

Behind the Australian Gardasil campaign was the PR giant Edelman that worked with the Australian and New Zealand distributor CSL Biotherapies in promoting the vaccine to health professionals and the public. There were 974 pieces of media devoted to the campaign with over 40 hours of coverage available to the Australian audience of almost 24 million. The campaign engaged 21 women between the ages of 14–26 who were to be given the vaccination nationally. Gardasil was launched to the public on 28 August 2006 and Ian Frazer himself vaccinated the first woman at the Sydney launch. The media campaign resulted in over 60% of mothers recommending their daughters avail themselves of the vaccination. More than 50% of women had now become aware of the vaccine with general practitioners reporting they had around eight patients requesting information about the drug (Public Relations Institute of Australia, PRIA, 2007).

Documenting how Gardasil was sold to the public would not be complete without the inclusion of the role played by commercial interests such as CSL Ltd, the Australian and New Zealand distributor of Gardasil, and that of Australian politics. In ‘Healthcare’s sticking point’, Gina McColl describes how the listing of anti-cancer vaccines such as Gardasil highlights how commercial pressure and politics threaten the independence of our healthcare system. In November 2006, CSL’s first application for listing Gardasil on the national immunisation register was declined by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC).18

Tony Abbott, who was Minister for Health at the time, defended this decision, but due to an intense public outcry, Prime Minister John Howard stepped in, promising the electorate that the vaccine would be approved (McColl, 2007).

Writing for The Australian, Matthew Stevens sums up the political manoeuvre:

It took just 24 hours for the then Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, to put an end to the nonsense, delivering sparkling prime ministerial endorsement to Gardasil along with a clear direction to Minister Abbott that the immunisation program should proceed. And pronto (Stevens, 2006).

Those critical of the HPV vaccination program were furious. Activist Elizabeth Hart described the significance of John Howard’s interference in the PBAC’s initial application:

Getting a vaccine on the national schedule must be the ‘golden goose’ for vaccine manufacturers as this assures a mass market for their vaccine product. It also helps create a ‘domino’ effect as other countries follow suit and adopt the vaccine, creating a mass global market (Hart, 2013).

And so it came to pass that on International Women’s Day, March 8th 2007, the then federal Minister for Health Tony Abbott announced to the Australian people that the cervical cancer vaccination program was set to begin.

Opposition to Gardasil continues to grow with U.S. blogger Dr Kelly Brogan articulating the feelings of so many of us who have watched with disappointment the introduction of HPV vaccines to uninformed young girls:

… the Pharmaceutical industry has co-opted our maternal inner compass. They, in partnership with media, have grabbed onto our natural tendency to worry about the welfare of our children, and they have tempted us with a shiny apple.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.