Government fully considered HPV vaccine

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2552

Published 19 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2552
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2552

Letters

(Not) warts and all

Government fully considered HPV vaccine

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

It was unfortunate that Hammond wrote his piece without askingus the government’s reasons for choosing the human papillomavirus(HPV) vaccine.¹ We fully considered all of the issues he raisedand much more that was scientific, logistic, and economic.

We used the cost effectiveness analysis of Jit et al to allocatepoints for the quality of scientific information on protectionagainst cervical cancer, protection against warts, and stabilityout of the cold chain,² and only after the scoring was completedwere the prices revealed. With the same analysis,² the priceswere scored for cost effectiveness in balance with the otherfactors. The scoring system had been shared in advance withthe manufacturers. In central contracts the price offered bymanufacturers can differ considerably between products and againstthe list price.

We took full account of the burden of genital warts and thebenefits that might come from vaccinating males. Perhaps . . . [Full text of this article]

David M Salisbury, director of immunisation¹

¹ Department of Health, London SW1A 2NS

judith.moore@dh.gsi.gov.uk

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

(Not) warts and all: Phil Hammond
BMJ 2008 337: a2186. [Extract] [Full Text]

Economic evaluation of human papillomavirus vaccination in the United Kingdom: Mark Jit, Yoon Hong Choi, and W John Edmunds
BMJ 2008 337: a769. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

HPV is not only about genital warts and cervical cancer.: Desmond A Nunez
bmj.com, 28 Nov 2008 [Full text]
The Government's Bottom Line?: Gee Yen Shin
bmj.com, 2 Dec 2008 [Full text]