Cancer is better than sex!

This is the face of the man leading the charge against the cervical cancer vaccine [1].

In 2003 President Bush appointed a medical doctor, Reginald Finger, to the ACIP. Until last fall, Dr. Finger was also the medical affairs analyst for Focus on the Family, the nation’s largest and most powerful evangelical Christian organization. In an effort to gain the support of this group, Merck has been forced to aggressively lobby Focus. Merck has admitted to holding numerous meetings with Dr. Finger at Focus’ headquarters. It’s troubling that a vaccine manufacturer has to be concerned with securing the backing of a conservative Christian organization. And Merck will likely have an uphill battle.

Although children are required to have various vaccinations before attending public schools, conservatives are against the ACIP recommending this for the HPV vaccine. The Christian Medical & Dental Associations is an organization that “exists to glorify God by advancing Biblical principles in bioethics and health to the Church and society.”

So now we're taking medical advice from a civilization more than 2,000 years old? Well, I guess that makes sense since back then the average lifespan was apparently 912 years [2]!

Oh, and his name is seriously Dr. Finger?!

UPDATE:

Good news!  Apparently rational thought has won out and MSNBC is reporting [3] that the FDA has approved the HPV vaccine.  Will Dr. Finger lay awake tonight pondering the downfall of civilization as we know it?  I hope women will be having cancer-free sex all over his front lawn.