Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control announced its new schedule of vaccinations for children, including a highly divisive recommendation that all girls aged 11-12 be immunized against certain cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which are responsible for 70% of cervical cancer cases.
Last fall, Michigan became the first state to require girls entering the sixth grade to have injections of the vaccine Gardasil before the 2007-08 school year. An article in today's Washington Times suggests that several states, including Texas, may follow suit. While we as parents should welcome the wide distribution of vaccines that could prevent infection with several cancer-causing strains of HPV, we should also have concerns that making the immunizations mandatory creates a dangerous precedent of trampling parents' rights.
Moms and dads have an inherent responsibility to be the primary decision makers regarding their children's health and should not be coerced into relinquishing those rights. Also, since HPV is transmitted not through casual activity but sexual behavior, how can schools justify making the vaccination a requirement of public school attendance? Creating such a policy may send the message that these interventions make sex "safe" without being accompanied by the instructive primary prevention message that practicing abstinence-until-marriage is the best and surest way to prevent the spread of STDs.
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