Right now if you're not a woman between, what, nine and twenty six you need to pony up $300+ dollars to get it. My ObGyn suspects that coverage limitation has more to do with available stocks than anything else and that in time it will extend to older women and then to men.

Actually from what I've been reading and hearing it's really 9 to 18 that's the most effective range. It's what the American Cancer Society is recommending for the window. The trick is the vaccine is extremely effective if you get it before your first exposure. The effectiveness drops tremendously after that. As such, the push is for it to happen before students enter middle school. Yes, there is the issue of the drug manufacturer having pushed to hard to get it mandatory, that was a stupid move on their part. However, most states that are looking at making it mandatory are doing that, in part, to make it mandatory for health insurance to cover the vaccine. Right now many insurers do not cover it. If it becomes a mandatory vaccination they will.

I'm within the age range where most insurances will cover it, but mine (the student health plan) won't. Which is just dumb, really. But the student health plan is really horrible -- they'll cover a total of $500 a year for prescriptions. (My parents have said that they'll pay for me to get the HPV vaccine if I want it. I need to talk it over with my doctor, but I probably will be getting it.)

I just checked -- the only vaccine that Chickering student health plan (which seems to be the student health plan at most colleges) will cover is TB. Which is just $15 anyway. Gardasil is three doses at $150 each, not covered by student health insurance.

Just to be clear--I think it should be mandatory, but I also think it should be free. A totally separate topic, I know.

One of the other things my ObGyn said was that there is some indication (and further studies in the works) that there can be reductions in infection in people already infected with the virus if they get the vaccine. Which is interesting.

sumi! What a race that was.

HPV vaccine. In general, I am opposed to the government, or anyone really, making me do something. But. When it's a case of a thing that will save many lives, and harm no one, and you know that many people for whatever reasons will not do it, then yeah, I think it should be government mandated. And free.

I wonder if the reaction of the general public to this vaccine will be different when it becomes widely known that it causes oral cancer, and in men, as well as giving sexually active women cervical cancer. Though I guess some people will still see it a punishment for having sex.

Dana, I know! I was holding my breath!

Is anyone around who could translate a phrase into Latin for me?

I'm reading a book on mathematical writing. It's a pretty useful book, but the author has a tendency to throw in some rather random-sounding examples. As an example of what not to do: "This semisimple, sesquilinear operator serves to show sometimes that subgroups of S are sequenced."

(He also insists that the proper way to write a mathematical paper is first person plural. I think it feels horribly awkward to write that way, but it seems to be standard, so I'll do it. Sorry, we think it feels horribly awkward to write that way, but it seems to be standard, so we'll do it.)