Maryland’s $145 Million Cervical Cancer Policy Fail

By Josh A. Mazer, CHD Guest Contributor (Originally published in Eye on Annapolis)

Human papillomavirus (“HPV”) will infect about 90% of Marylanders. It is usually harmless and self clearing. Very rarely, undiagnosed and untreated infections may lead to cervical cancer. The Baltimore Sun reported in 1990:  From 1983 to 1987, “406 Maryland women died of a cancer that…need kill virtually no woman, because a Pap smear can detect cervical cancer while it is curable.”

In the modern era, cervical cancer incidence in Maryland was cut almost in half, from 11 cases per 100,000 in 1995 to 5.9/100,000 in 2013.

I have been following Maryland’s HPV vaccine policy very closely since 2018, when our children became eligible to receive Merck’s controversial, liability free HPV vaccine. I was confused by the state sponsored hard sell put on my family to…