Heading to the Beach? Dry Off With Gardasil!
By Christine Cupaiuolo — August 8, 2007
Ed Silverman at Pharmalot makes my day:
What better way to advertise to other beachgoers that you’re free of a sexually transmitted disease than to wrap yourself in this nicely designed terry velour towel, which measures 30 inches by 60 inches. Catch a wave and then use the towel to make clear to that attractive person nearby that genital warts or HPV won’t be a problem. Truly, this is a new way to advertise the advantages the vaccine has to offer. Frisky teenagers will love them!
Check out a larger image here.
And if this is your idea of a must-have summer item, you’ll be pleased to learn that there are five bidding days left for a lot of six terry velour towels. Looks like someone doesn’t want their swag.
Just found your web site, and it’s great!
One comment, though, about this post. It’s acutally not correct to say that vaccinated individuals are free of HPV. Gardasil only protects against 4 of the many strains of HPV, and even then, only if the individual has not already acquired one of the strains prior to vaccination.
Be careful about perpetuating this growing myth that the vaccine is more effective than it is. Women who are vaccinated need to know that they can still acquire HPV, and that they still need to get pap smear screening on a regular basis.
Thanks again for a great blog.
TBTAM, thanks for the reminder. The towel itself mentions the four strains, but Ed’s tongue-in-cheek response doesn’t explicitly remind us of that fact. These “immune from HPV” panties in CafePress are particularly disturbing to me. I know they’re supposed to be in good fun, but the inaccuracy bothers me.