This week’s BusinessWeek features Margaret McGlynn, President of Merck Vaccines, a woman clearly on track with many of her goals. Having joined the company out of college in 1981, McGlynn, 47, could easily emerge as Merck’s CEO in the future, having been refreshingly sited by one boss as having “an ability to argue her case in a relentlessly logical and wonderfully intense way.” [COLOR="Red"]Among other things, she is focused on the launch of Gardasil for females aged 9 to 26, “hailed as a breakthrough because it prevents some forms of human papilloma virus (HPV), a leading cause of cervical cancer.”[/COLOR] All of us know someone, a sister, friend, colleague who has been diagnosed with and potentially died due to cervical cancer. “Merck has been lobbying state legislators to mandate the vaccine for all young girls.”
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="red"]As an HPV survivor, I strongly encourage all of you who are and all of you who have daughters aged 9 through 26 to get this vaccination as soon as is possible![/COLOR][/SIZE]
In Europe, we are gearing up to vaccinate all women in that age range. The big discussion is whether the vaccination will be absolutely required.
Of the roughly 100 HPV, four are the real bad actors implicated in cervical cancer. By the age of thirty, about half of us have acquired HPV - fortunately not necessarily the real bad ones. Incidentally, we have no idea what many of them do!
As I perform "first exams," I am very insistent that women have this vaccine. Mother's, as necessary, have been quite agreeable. I have given them innoculations as well!
Women in general need to be aware of the vaccinations and get involved with getting the vaccination mandated. We vaccinate our kids for MMR, Polio, Chickenpox, and now in many cases for college against meningitis, why skip the HPV...