Blocking cancer
 

The Legislature should require that girls in grade school be immunized against a virus that causes cervical cancer.



Assemblywoman Sally J. Lieber, D-Mountain View, last month introduced AB 16, which would make California the first state to mandate immunization of girls against the human papillomavirus. Schoolchidren must get shots for the measles, mumps, the flu, bacterial meningitis, whooping cough, chickenpox and other preventable diseases. Immunizing against HPV is just as vital.



The series of three shots will save lives by protecting girls from contracting the strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer -- which strikes 9,700 American women a year and kills 3,700. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says two of the strains of HPV this vaccine would prevent cause about 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases.



The inoculations are safe; the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine in June. And in November the CDC recommended that HPV immunization be part of the routine vaccines that schools give to students -- starting with girls entering the sixth grade. Clinical trials show that the vaccine lasts at least five years but could last much longer.



The vaccine has no effect once a woman contracts HPV, so vaccinating girls before any sexual intimacy is key. And the CDC's latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows that 47 percent of teenagers have sexual intercourse before high school graduation -- putting them at risk of infection.



Some parents may object to AB 16 because the vaccination could require talking with 11-year-olds about sex and sexually transmitted diseases. But Lieber's bill allows parents to opt out of the shots. Nor would the HPV vaccine be morally unique. California requires all schoolchildren to get immunized against Hepatitis B, which is transmitted either through sexual contact or intravenous drug use.



Mandatory vaccinations for children can be controversial, but this program shouldn't be -- if the focus remains on promoting women's health.



Kaynak: SağlıkHaber