Women in this country are given the hard sell rather than the hard facts on human papillomavirus (HPV) by some healthcare providers, a legislator and women's rights activists said yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying (
"Some gynecologist's offices have printouts promoting the vaccines featuring misleading slogans such as `three shots protecting you for life.' This is misleading," TWL secretary-general Tsai Wan-fen (
"In fact the vaccine only protects against certain strains of the virus," Tsai said. "It is no replacement for regular pap smears."
Currently the only HPV vaccine on the market in this country is Gardisil, manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Merck, Sharpe & Dohme (MSD). Gardisil is available on an out of pocket basis for approximately NT$12,000 for three doses.
A woman who only wished to be identified by her surname, Chen, recounted her experiences at the press conference. Chen discovered a promotion where tickets to see a popular singer could be picked up at selected gynecologist's offices.
When she turned up to pick up the tickets, she was given a sales pitch promoting Gardisil, she said.
Wang Je-chau (
"There is no reason for the department to take a stance on clinics offering Gardisil for women who want to pay out of pocket -- it's their choice," Wang said. "However, in terms of the public funding of such vaccines, the DOH is taking a cautious stance and will evaluate the pros and cons carefully before making a decision."
Wang added that DOH efforts to increase the percentage of women getting regular pap smears are ongoing.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift