A Shot of Hennessy
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| Look scary? Not as scary as CANCER. |
By now, hopefully you have heard of Human Papillomavirus, the virus that causes 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts cases.
Maybe you have seen the barrage of “One Less” commercials advertising the new vaccine, Gardasil, which was approved by the FDA in June 2006.
What you may not know is how prohibitively expensive the vaccine is.
According to the Center for Disease Control’s website the market price is $120 per shot - and the vaccine requires 3 shots to be completely effective. Student Health Services charges $130 per shot.
But you’ll have to pay it on your own - Gardasil is not covered by the Penn Student Insurance Plan.
In a phone interview, director of Student Health Services Evelyn Weiner said, “The Penn Student Insurance Plan generally only covers those vaccines that are required for matriculation.”
But it does cover non-essential flu shots for students.
Cervical cancer, however, is much deadlier than the flu. Often called “the silent killer,” it affects 9,700 women every year - about 3,700 will die from the disease. This vaccine could nearly eliminate these deaths.
Gardasil is 100 percent effective against all forms of HPV that cause cervical cancer and genital warts. The fact is, it’s pretty likely you’ll contract a form of HPV at some point in your life - if you’re sexually active, the odds are one in two.
So who decides what the PSIP covers? The Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee, comprised of 12 graduate and 14 undergraduate students, does. Weiner said the committee decided not to cover Gardasil, “in anticipation of other vaccines becoming available soon.” They are not opposed to covering it - it’s just a matter of balancing options.
The university needs to at least partially subsidize this life-saving vaccine. Even more, students with private insurance that doesn’t cover the vaccine should also be eligible for a cost deduction.
Despite the stereotype, not all Penn students have the $390 for the vaccine - almost 55 percent of undergraduates receive some sort of financial aid. Ask our parents for the money, you say?
My parents don’t get to have a say in my sex life.
It can be done - Yale University students pushed for their student insurance plan to cover the vaccine and suceeded.
Princeton University and Dartmouth College also subsidize the vaccine.
So instead of making us decide whether a healthy cervix is worth $390, Penn needs to step up and provide this groundbreaking cancer cure (that’s right, a cure) at low or no cost.
Until then, I guess I’ll be taking donations.
A Shot of Hennessy appears every Monday and Wednesday.
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September 19th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
If getting the shot means so much to you, then you’d sacrifice other purchases to pay for it. No one is going to simply hand you money at this school, in any way, shape, or form.
September 19th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
This is a wonderful article. Clearly the alum from 2004 that commented is not a woman.
September 19th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
How can we push for this?? I am willing to send letters
September 21st, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Just for an update - I am currently investigating who the appropriate rep is to contact from the Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee. What I have found out so far is that the UA does have some affiliation with it, but that it is not one of its official committees. More information to come…stay tuned.