So, if you have the vaccine, and it works for you, you are protected against a certain % of cervical cancers. If this is proven, i think this is better than no protection.
I suppose this is pretty much the heart of the matter for me - it's not protecting women against 100% of cervical cancers, only the ones caused by that particular strain of HPV. But the way the media's carrying on, you'd think this one little needle was the be-all and end-all as far as cancer cures are concerned, which obviously is untrue. FWIW, I vaccinate my kids according to the schedule, because the schedule is protecting against contagious and infectious diseases that can kill or severely disable a child. So the Gardasil vaccine is something I would prefer to do more research on in order to decide whether or not to get it done, because it's not really a 'life-or-death' matter, kwim? At least I have a good decade or so before my girls are eligible for the vaccine so I hope by then that there is much more information and research into this particular vaccine available.

You are right though about people not being smart 100% of the time about the choices they make, and it probably came off like I was being quite arrogant about it Which wasn't intended! I just want my girls to know that this vaccine is only going to prevent a certain percentage of cervical cancers, not all of them, and that while they're protected from one strain of HPV as a result of the vaccine, it doesn't mean they're protected against any other sexually transmitted disease or infection (some of which can be really nasty and cause infertility etc), so if they're going to have the vaccine, it's not really protecting them against much of anything, kwim? They still have to be sensible and careful about their choices.