A vaccine for disinformation

28/11/2008

Rumoured side effects and a lack of information appear to have doomed an ambitious plan to inoculate Romanian girls against HPV.

By Paul Ciocoiu for Southeast European Times in Bucharest – 28/11/08

The HPV shot is a controversial topic in Romania. [Getty Images]

A 23m-euro vaccination campaign initiated by Romania's health ministry has sparked widespread confusion. Under the programme, around 100,000 fourth-grade girls were supposed to be immunised against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer. At least five Romanian women die every day from this disease, with 95% of cases traceable to HPV.

However, many families have refused the vaccine after hearing rumours that it was not tested adequately and could lead to death. Teachers and school medics say they received little information about the vaccine and have thus not been able to properly educate parents about it. Specialists have given conflicting statements, some approving and others critical.

"There's been a lot of talk about the vaccine against the uterine cervix cancer," reports DIV on his blog. "In the cities, approximately 40% of the parents refuse the vaccine for their daughters while in the countryside they're talking about a 100% refusal. The reason is the lack of information and the fear induced by the media that the vaccine has very serious side effects," he writes.

For Bogdan Pitaru, the controversy reflects Romanian's penchant for drama. "The whole hysteria generated these past days by the vaccination campaign shows that here things indeed happen differently," he suggests. "It took us straight to a conspiracy theory. They used big words, heard in the Hollywood movies: guinea pigs, tests on humans, side effects … all because of a total lack of communication from the Ministry of Health."

Mihnea Maruta poses a tough dilemma. "What's the bigger risk: a vaccine whose long-term effects are unknown, or the thought that your daughter might reproach you one day for not doing your job as parents -- that of protecting her?"

According to Catalin Stavaru, the fuss is all out of ignorance. "The media is after topics that attract an audience and all this side effect stuff is a topic with a guaranteed audience," he concludes.

One of his readers responds. "It is well known that when it comes to health, people look at new remedies with reticence … The minister of health should have foreseen this and offered answers before the whole thing turned chaotic," Matador writes.