Why Public Schools Should Require the HPV Vaccine

If you live in Rhode Island and your children go to public school, they will need to be vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus, or HPV. This is a new requirement—and not everyone likes it. Those who oppose the change point out that you catch HPV through sex, unlike infections like measles or whooping cough that you can catch if someone in the classroom has it and coughs on you. Why, they say, should the HPV vaccine be required for school? Because it could save lives, that’s why. HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer. It’s also the cause of many other cancers, and genital warts. The vaccine, which can be given as early as 9 years of age, is highly effective against the strains of HPV that cause problems, assuming that youth get all three doses. However, we aren’t doing so great when it comes to getting youth immunized. Some parents associate HPV with sex and feel that their children are too young, even when they are in high school (despite the fact that surveys repeatedly show that half of high school students have had sex). Some parents are worried about the vaccine’s safety; despite years of testing and millions of doses given, unfounded rumors abound about it being dangerous. Once parents get scared, it’s hard to un-scare them. Given that the vaccine isn’t generally required for school, they skip it entirely. There’s also the simple fact that older children just don’t go to the doctor as often as younger children, which means that there are few...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Vaccines HPV hpv vaccine human papilloma virus Human Papilloma Virus vaccine Source Type: news