I believe it, and you?
By chance, the other day, I was sitting on a terrace with some acquaintances from the neighborhood. We talked about many topics until we started talking about vaccines against COVID19. “Do you believe in the effectiveness of vaccines?” he asked. From that moment on, the conversation took a direction that I never expected: vaccine deaths, graphene, autism, gene therapy...
All the clichés of the discourse against vaccines came out, and I have to admit that it was very difficult for me to do scientific pedagogy. “We have different points of view,” he told me; “you are a scientist, and I am a different one,” he added. And there's the thing, folks, there's the thing.
When talking about the effectiveness of vaccines, the scientific point of view should be the only one. It is clear that not everyone can analyze and understand scientific data, but that is precisely why there is scientific disclosure. An activity that should be the duty of any researcher. And yes, today I am going to make an apology for vaccines, a pedagogical apology from a scientific point of view, so that this scientific point of view is incorporated into the opinion of any citizen.
Although there are dozens of examples, this time I want to tell you about a vaccine developed to prevent a disease that affects women: the optional human papillomavirus vaccine. It is estimated that 70% of cervical cancers are caused by infections with both strains of human papillomavirus (HPV16 and HPV18). The first vaccine against this virus was approved in 2006. Since then, many scientific evidence has confirmed that the tool is effective in preventing the development of cervical cancer.
In Scotland, for example, a study carried out by the local Department of Public Health in collaboration with the universities of Strathclyde and Edinburgh shows that, since the start of the vaccination programme in Scotland in 2008, no cases of cervical cancer have been detected among women vaccinated at 12-13 years of age.
Not only in Scotland, but also in impoverished countries, the implementation of this vaccine has been hugely successful in preventing HPV infection. In Rwanda, for example, in 2011, thanks to an impressive HPV vaccination awareness campaign, more than 90% of target women were vaccinated. in a study published in 2019 in the scientific journal The Lancet Global Health, the prevalence of the virus in women who received and did not receive the vaccine in the capital of Rwanda was analyzed, finding that the vaccine had a 98% efficacy against the most important responsible for cervical cancer, strains HPV16 and HPV18.
If this high vaccination coverage were maintained in Rwanda, it would be on track to eradicate cervical cancer there in the coming decades.
The scientific evidence is there. They are undeniable. That’s why I believe in the effectiveness of vaccines, and you?
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