OPINION:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s featured topic on the front of its website recently was this: “HPV Infection — HPV is a common virus that can cause cancers later in life.” Click on “learn more” and it’s learned that while the human papillomavirus is spread through “vaginal, anal, or oral sex,” the CDC is recommending the HPV vaccine for children as young as 11 and 12 years old. A sex shot for kids. Just what the doctor ordered.
But this figures. The left has been busily sexualizing youth these past years. It only makes sense that the medical bureaucrats working within a leftist-dominated administration would advance this sexualization with a heavy focus on clearing the way for kids to continue to have safer sex.
It’s the next big Big Pharma rush.
And just like the last Big Pharma rush — the not-so-effective-after-all COVID shots and the many, many, many boosters that are now being shoved as necessaries for babies, ages 6 months, and then each year of life thereafter — this HPV shot is being dressed in deceptiveness and hyped with fear.
“Some HPV infections can lead to cancer,” CDC warned.
Some. Perhaps. Maybe. But then comes the truth, in smaller font on CDC’s website: “Most HPV infections (9 out of 10) go away by themselves within 2 years.”
Nine out of 10 — 90% — the vast majority of HPV infections, which come by way of engaging in sexual activity, clear on their own. That’s the facts, Jack. In order to sell the shots, though, CDC slides right back into the fear.
“But sometimes,” CDC went on, “HPV infections will last longer and can cause some cancers. HPV infections can cause cancers of the cervix, vagina and vulva, penis, anus, [and] back of the throat.”
Then come the scary, scary numbers.
“Every year in the United States, HPV causes about 36,000 cases of cancer in both men and women,” CDC wrote.
In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau counted 331.4 million people in America. Of that, almost 78% — 258.3 million — were adults.
Thirty-six thousand of 331.4 million is 0.01%. Thirty-six thousand of 258.3 million represents 0.01%.
The National Cancer Institute, a government agency under the National Institutes of Health, estimated in 2022 that roughly 1.9 million Americans were diagnosed with cancer. Thirty-six thousand of 1.9 million is about 1.89%.
The National Cancer Institute also finds that the most common cancers, in order, are breast (15%), prostate (14%), lung and bronchus (12%), colon and rectum (8%) and other (51%). The most common forms of cancers that lead to death are lung and bronchus (21%), followed by colon and rectum (9%).
That means the cancers caused by the HPV virus aren’t exactly leading the pack.
The American Cancer Society figures there will be 13,960 new cases of invasive cervical cancer this year, with about 4,310 resulting in death.
“Cancer of the penis,” meanwhile, the National Cancer Institute wrote, “is very rare. Only about 2,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with the disease each year.”
As for anal cancer, the American Cancer Society reports this form is “fairly rare — much less common than cancer of the colon or rectum.” For 2023, the American Cancer Society guesses there will be about 9,760 new cases, and of that, 1,870 will prove fatal.
And then there are the oropharyngeal cancers — those affecting the back of the throat — and the predictions from the American Cancer Society for 2023 that go like this: a total of 54,540 new cases of “oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer” with about 11,580 proving fatal.
Do the math.
Figure the facts.
Put numbers to the CDC’s “needs” — as in “you need to get these shots”; “you need to give your children these shots”; “you need to protect your family from cancers by taking these shots.”
And see if this is just another Big Pharma plus partners-in-politics push to get more shots, more shots, more shots in Americans’ arms — meaning more money, more money, more money in Big Pharma and partners’ pockets.
“CDC recommends two doses of HPV vaccine at ages 11-12 years. HPV vaccination can be started at age 9 years,” CDC wrote.
Are 9-year-olds supposed to be having sex? How about 12-year-olds?
That’s a thought that’s being pushed to the side. The nonprofit Healthy Children, for example, has a full write-up on its website under the header, “Here’s Why Your Preteen Needs the HPV Vaccine” — while seriously understating to the point of shoulder-shrugging the link between HPV infections and sexual activity.
Slipped into the middle of its call for parents to give these shots to 9-year-olds — that “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends kids get 2 doses of the vaccine between the ages of 9 and 12” so do it, just do it! — is this bare-boned nod at truth. First, the headline: “Don’t HPV infections go away on their own?” Then the response: “Most HPV infections go away by themselves within 2 years. But sometimes HPV infections will last longer. These are the infections that can cause cancers later in life. HPV is easily spread — it can be passed even when an infected person has no signs or symptoms! Most people who become infected with HPV get it within 2-3 years of their first sexual activity. Someone who only has one partner can get HPV. Plus, sexual intercourse is not required for transmission,” Healthy Children wrote.
Sexual intercourse, no. But sexual activity, yes. It’s like the great obfuscating Dr. Anthony Fauci, all over again.
Let the cooler heads prevail. It would seem, given the statistics, given the facts, that a widespread governmental push for this shot into the arms of America’s children is entirely unwarranted.
Children shouldn’t be having sex. Little 9-year-old girls and boys ought not to be engaging in sexual activity.
But leftists don’t like that message being spread because it comes with a whiff of morality — and if there’s one thing leftists hate, it’s being told their behaviors are immoral. So they use fear to distract from their immoral goals.
The real fear, of course, is how far Big Pharma is willing to go to get shots, untested for long-term effects as they are, into the arms of citizens, into the arms of even babies.
Post-COVID, Americans have seen how these evil forces will happily use fear, half-truths, false promises and political goose-stepping as the means to a very lucrative profiteering end. If parents don’t put a stop to the HPV narrative now, it won’t be long before states — Democratic-controlled states — will pick up the CDC’s mantra and join them with the narratives of nonprofits like Healthy Children to push a pro-HPV vaccine message.
First come the recommendations, then come the strongly worded advisements coupled with shaming for those who resist, then finally come the mandates. Children who don’t have the HPV shots will not be allowed to enter public schools.
Virginia pressed for that years ago. So did Washington, D.C. So did a couple of other jurisdictions.
Outraged parents tried to put a stop to the HPV shot mandate — focusing in part on the ridiculousness of requiring kids to get a chemical injection aimed at preventing a virus that spreads by sexual activity. But once the train is in motion, it’s hard to stop. Look at how the CDC’s front page featured item, in early March 2023, was all about HPV. That’s the priority. That’s the top issue.
Take a lesson from Virginia. Take a lesson from COVID. Big Government, Big Pharma and their partners in politics will use fear to sell vaccines, even when it puts kids at risk. And they’ll do it shamelessly, on the wings of deception.
Mark these words: Today’s HPV is tomorrow’s fill-in-the-blank. The governmental push for more vaccines, more shots, more boosters is just getting started.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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