Channel 4 Dispatches – confusing messages

Having watched Dispatches today, about the new HPV/cervical cancer immunisation, I was left a little confused: it seemed to argue that drug companies (GSK & Merck) used unscrupulous methods to get their vaccines licenced and approved for use by the NHS; then at the end of the programme it is clearly supporting the use of the vaccine. It is, of course, possible to have a useful drug that is unethically promoted, but I got the feeling that the programme was trying to make people doubt the efficacy of the vaccine based on the marketing strategy of the pharmaceutical giants. Anyone agree?

On a separate note, the programme contained a good example of the double standards of journalists: it criticised Merck for sponsoring a questionnaire asking parents whether or not they would like their daughters to be protected from cervical cancer by a vaccine (yes, obviously). Moments later Jane (our presenter) asks the parents of a woman with advanced cervical cancer whether they wish they could have vaccinated her against it!

If you missed it you can watch it online until next week here.

Or read about it on the C4 website.