myJaxon

I don’t get what the problem is.  So a state wants to make it a requirement that sixth grade girls receive a vaccine that will help prevent cancer.  That seems like a good idea to me.  I would want to protect my child from Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) if I could.  There are people out there who think the government is meddling in a parents right to decide that, but how is this any different than requiring newborns to have certain vaccines within the first few years of life?  The vaccine is there to help prevent a disease.

“For the life of me when the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and the other experts come forward and say this is safe, it’s been tested and it’s available, why in the world would we not make it available,” Gov. Rick Perry said. (Businessweek.com) I have to agree with Gov. Perry.  If it has passed the CDC analysis and there are other experts saying it’s safe, why not take advantage of it?

“Genital HPV infection is very common, with estimates suggesting that more than 50% of women will become infected with one or more of the sexually transmitted HPV types at some point during adulthood.  By age 50, about 80% of women will have been infected with genital HPV infection. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004)” (wikipedia.org)

As a society, we’ve already started taking precautions against HPV.  As a female, we schedule year Cervical Pap Smear test to make sure we haven’t caught anything.  One of the things doctors look for during this procedure is HPV, and since HPV can result in cervical cancer, why wouldn’t a person take an extra step to ensuring that you don’t get it?

Maybe I’m just ranting at this point, but why are people against a cancer vaccine when everyone is crying for one to begin with?  Yeah, it’s not one of known killer cancers (i.e. lung, breast, etc), but it’s still a cancer.