Comments on: Should HPV Vaccine Be Mandatory?

States Consider That Idea, Some Parents Worry Requirement Could Send Wrong Message

[ecuadoriana]

Jamesnavia wrote: "My problem is not the 'you assume that my child is sexually active' part of all of this...[but] the government trying to force a vaccine into my daughter...and the lack of a long-term study of side effects."

That's my point as well. Any time the government comes up with a brilliant "new improved plan" for my health or my family's, I'm extremely wary.

It's hard to trust a government that approved DES, allowed the promotion of cigarettes as being safe, allows billions of tons of chemicals to be dumped into the environment, forced sterilization on black girls & radiation testing on children...The goes on w/the atrocities our government has sanctioned.

There needs to be more investigation into this vacine, it should NOT be mandatory (NO vacine should be- what happened to "freedom of choice"?!) Parents shouldn't BLINDLY allow their child to have ANY chemical injected into their child. By allowing the government to make decisions about your child's s**ual health you're giving up your right as a parent to set the guidelines in your home for what is acceptable behaviour.

This is up there w/laws saying you can't spank your child- it's the systematic take over of your job as a parent to raise your child in your own home. What next an anti-communist style- "Hey kids turn your parents in for not getting you vacinated, win a trip to Disneyland!"

[adventurepa]

This vaccine is the best protection available against HPV. It would be stupid not to require every women to get the shot.

When will they have a shot available for men?

If you think your little princess doesn't talk or fool around by 5th, 6th or 7th grade, you are mistaken and nieve. Do the right thing and protect them.
If they get raped by someone and contract HPV you will have missed the chance to protect them.
The bad thing is a man can be a carrier of the disease and not show signs but still pass it on.
Just like venereal warts. Same goes for women, except it will show in a pap.
If you cannot bring yourself to help your child in such a way, you are an unfit parent.
It's just a matter of time before they discover the joys of the discovery channel. So do the right thing.

[younmm23]

Seriously, parents, if you aren't educating your children about *** by 5th grade, you are just setting your children up for disaster. You'd be amazed by how much they hear through the grapevine about *** just at school, and it is your job to tell the story before they start having ***. My parents told us about *** in 3rd grade, just the basics, and said that just like you can get a cold or the flu from someone coughing on you, there are special sicknesses you can get from having ***. It isn't too soon to tell your child about ***. Of course, it isn't just one talk, its a series of age adjusted talks. They don't turn your child into some *** fiend, the talks turn your child into an educated human being. And stop pretending like you are skipping the talk for their own good. You are skipping the talk because it is too awkward for YOU.

Besides, parents, your child already gets the Hepatitis B vaccine as a part of their vaccine load, and guess what! its a STD! Yes, thats right, you can get it through ***. Just because it affects the liver, not the genitals, doesn't mean it isn't transmitted sexually. Would you deny your child the HIV vaccine when it finally gets developed? Would you tell your child, "nope, sorry, having the *** talk was too awkward for me so instead of telling you about *** and giving you these life-saving vaccines I just skipped the whole thing and now you're gonna die."

[lindseym04]

in regards to what Free_Citizen said...our grandparents did have this problem...it was just recenetly discovered that cervical cancer is caused by a virus which is what HPV is..its a virus. If you look up the rates of Cerivcal cancer now versus 10 or even 20 years ago the medical community has made great strides in decreasing those numbers. And on another note HPV is not just transmitted through unhealthy sexual practices when you can read about how even with the use of condoms you can contract HPV because it is a virus just like any other virus except its transmited by any contact with genital parts.

[Free Citizen]

Debate as much as you want. One thing is fact; this HPV disease is only transmitted through unhealthy sexual practices or behavior. It says a lot about how society has degraded to the extent that a vaccination for it is required. I am sure the generation of our grandparents never had this problem. At least not serious enough to consider a need to remedy it.

[jamesnavia]

My problem is not the "you assume that my child is sexually active" part of all of this. My problem is the government trying to force a vaccine into my daughter that does not fully protect against HPV (only certain types) and the lack of a long-term study of side effects. They didn't know about the problems with DES (vaginal cancer) until after it was widely administered for almost 40 years. I'm not saying wait 40 years to test the vaccine, but I would think at least 10 - 20 before forcing it on people by law.

[tmkgls]

I agree that HPV is a serious issue. We now are told that there is a vaccine that covers most of the cancer that HPV can cause. However, it is a new vaccine and has only been tested for five years.

I have to agree with katia327 that five years really isn't a long enough time to say that it is safe to get. Just like the Vioxx case and others like it, how do we know that 10 or 20 years or so down the road some awful side effect will not show up such as infertility?

I believe it is way too early to be using this vaccine and the government SHOULD keep their noses out of it. It appears that the government is trying to get more and more control every day over all of us. Our freedoms stated in the Constitution and the first Ten Amendments are slowly disappearing. This vaccine should NOT be forced upon us and more testing NEEDS to be done before it being released to the public.

In the meantime we should make sure to get pap smears and teach our children (rather than just the schools doing it) about *** and its consequences.

[lindseym04]

My advice for most people that have posted on this board to please do research into what HPV really is...most of you apparently don't understand all the sides of HPV...its the people that don't know what they are talking about that aren't going to save your daughters from the pain of possibly having cervical cancer!

[lindseym04]

Another comment to the person that said "what about condems" if you do your research HPV can still be passed even if you are using condoms.

[lindseym04]

I am 24 years old and recently had an abnormal pap result come back. I had a leep done to remove the abnormal cells and one month later I appear to be clear.I will continued to be monitored for years. I had never had anything abnormal come back over the last 5 years then out of no where this comes up. It was amazing to me how many girls my age go through this. I know a few friends perosnally that are dealing with this and I found some great groups on myspace.com and facebook.com. You never realize how many people are going through what you are going through until you look into it. My mother being a RN for longer than I have been around has told me I will be getting the shot. Even though I older and do have a certain strain of HPV the shot can help against other strain. I know if this would have been available when I was young my mother would have made me get it. Its very important that young girls get this shot. Whether the parents want them to be sexually active or not they are going to do it if they want to. And I have to agree with the lady that made the comment about the price $360 is nothing compared to what I am looking at with only the few procedures I have had to do...I couldn't imagine what it would be if my case was worse.