Mandating the HPV Cancer Vaccine

Susan - although these programs may be termed as "mandatory", they will have opt-out policies. If your granddaughters' parents do not want their girls to receive the vaccine, all they have to do is say "no".

You raise some valid points on the efficacy of the testing - most drugs cannot be tested over very long periods of time. There is always some amount of risk in taking them. But if the FDA has approved the drug, you can be reasonably assured that there has been pretty extensive testing on it. The consumer and the medical community ultimately get to decide on the risk vs. return factor.

I have flopped back and forth on this one. I have seen nothing saying it has not been proven safe, and let's face the facts weather we like it or not the kids are having sex a lot earlier than ever before. If this keeps my daughter from getting cancer I say lets do it. I think the problem that a lot of parents have with this vaccine is first of all HPV is said to happen with sexual active girls/women, and we do not want to even think about our children as being sexual active. Next, our problem comes with the word mandated. As parents, Americans are tired or the government telling them how to raise their kids so as an act of rebellion they are saying no to something that may one day say their children's life. I believe it should not be mandated in six grades but it should be mandated for any girl proven to be sexually active, speaking from someone who has lost 2 family members from cancer, it could save their life. It also could help for the low income people without insurance, because things the government mandates for school it usually has programs where you can get them for free. So if this is proven to keep away cancer and there's a mad rush for every women to get it, the low income people will be able to afford it to.

Don't you wonder , is this vaccine like some of the other new things approved by the FDA? Ones that have gone wrong and left people damaged beyond repair or dead, Like, fen fen , redouix, bextra, the new birthcontrol patch and many others . Will this vaccine leave our beautiful young women unable to concieve, or cause them to have cancer worse than the cervical cancer .. Maybe even give birth to deformed babies when they do decide to become moms . I would'nt give my daughter that vaccine, until the stuff has been on the market for ten years. Does'nt it look like someone wants to make alot of money , namely the drug companys. I have seen too many drugs etc. approved by the FDA that have been harmful to trust them , Is this HPV an epedemic ,NO, you do have to have sex to contract it . How many women have had sex and do not have HPV? For the state legislature to mandate that young girls have the vaccine is wrong, as some states are doing. Do we really have freedom of choice in this country , well that remains to be seen .Are our children really ours or are we just raising them until the powers that be, take over.

LaTrice - the initial dose of vaccine should be given prior to any sexual activity. That is why they chose girls 11-12.

Thank you everyone. I agree with Judy look at the drugs that have turned out to be harmful. Look at Thalidomide. If it is not about the money why do the drug companies and insurance companies say giving the vaccine to older women is not cost effective?
Maybe we have become too cynical. I don't remember but how did we react to polio vaccine?

The HPV vaccine is safe and effective. It meets the FDA requirements for approval and has been extensively tested to ensure safety.

During clinical trials, the HPV vaccine was tested in more than 20,000 young women throughout the world, including in the U.S. The experiences of patients receiving the vaccine since FDA approval have been consistent with the clinical trials and are consistent with typical immune responses to vaccines.

I too would be rather skeptical of MANDATING that this be given to young girls. I know the FDA says it is safe, but I don't trust our government any further than I can throw it overhand in a hurricane.

What concerns me most is that the states that are proposing mandating this are being HEAVILY - VERY HEAVILY - lobbied by the manufacturer. Serious lobbying. If this drug is the "miracle cure" that it appears on the surface to be, then why would such intense lobbying efforts be necessary? I smell fraud.

I also remember seeing the photos of Thalidomide babies, or hearing of the daughters of other women who took drugs that rendered harmful effects, not to THEM, but to their daughters born AFTER they took the medicines. It takes at least 2 generations before we can be truly CERTAIN that a drug is 100% safe.

Personally, I think this should be an "Opt IN" vaccination. And in response to Susan O's question in the article, I think that if you "Opt IN", the only thing you would have to tell a 9 year old child is "You're getting a shot" - same as you would for an MMR vaccination, Flu shot, or any other standard childhood vaccination. Kids don't care about "why" they only care about whether they get a lollypop and a sticker after the "owie".

I am against anyone being forced to get this!!!!

I can see why people would want girls to have this done... but on the other hand, I read about this virus online and in many cases it does not cause the cancer. The cancer can be caught in many other ways as through genetics.

If that's the case, it seems ludicrous to vaccinate people. Plus as anyone who's taken a flu shot knows, you can still get the flu regardless of the shot. :P

The cost to treat young girls for cervical cancer and frankly lose many of them in the fight is far more than the cost of the vaccine. I work in a cancer hospital and the number of young women that come in with advanced cervical cancer secondary to HPV that could be prevented with the vaccine, is crazy. These girls have sex at a young age and do not tell their parents, therefore they do not get Pap smears, then at about 18-22 when they get their first Pap smear it is found that they have cancer and many of them have very advanced disease. I am pro-vaccine....

Courtney - Thank you for your comments. Do you sugest vaccines for young boys? Why aren't older women who do not have HPV and are becoming sexually active being encouraged to have the vaccine?

Congrats on being featured on the home page. So because of Triple points I am visiting all your content. So sorry for the generic post but this way I get to see more peoples content and help you get those points.

I don't understand why only girls. Guys can carry the virus and pass it on to girls. I know that girls are the ones that suffer the most from HPV but the babies they might carry in the future could be harmed by this vaccine. Do they have any proof that this vaccine is safe for women and the babies they conceive after they get the shot?
I won't let my daughter be a test subject for this one.