[doc30]

This article will surely stir the pot of controversy. A new vaccine is in the works that will prevent HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that causes the second most common form of fatal cancer in women. The issue is that the virus is most commonly acquired shortly after a girl becomes sexually active. Men and boys can carry it and never know. In order to prevent infection, vaccination has to be given before sexual activity occurs. SO should children be immunized (first controversial topic) for sexually transmitted diseases (second controversial topic) that is known to cause cancer later in life? Personally, I would get my kids immunized and I'd be honest about it being for a cancer causing virus, but I would never, ever tell them it was an STD virus. An immunization now is a simple and effective way to prevent a very nasty cancer later in life.

[farlander]

Why in the world would anyone not vaccinate their children against this ? Why is this controversial at all ? What's the controversy ? That we can now protect kids against a nasty disease ?

[rellimpank]

--but I would never, ever tell them it was an STD virus.--

--I suspect they'd find out the truth--

[lilylangtree]

Immunization against cancer--great idea!

[HonestConservative]

Excellent post,doc.


These developments are major milestones in virus related research which will open doors to multiple advances in other virus related diseases.

If it was a vaccine for HIV, wonder what the pc crowd would have to say?

[muawiyah]

No doubt the writer meant this as a pun: "drug companies must meet the challenge of mounting "

[MortMan]

There's a third question. How was the vaccine developed?

[sandbar]

I would get all three of my daughters vaccinated. My best friend has this and lost her uterus after only having one child due to cervical cancer. She isn't a slut, she slept with one guy before her husband and her husband slept with two before her. It just takes one... That whole you've slept with who they slept with and on and on as the saying goes.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

Hey, most parents now immunize their kids against an STD (Hep B) on the day of birth! I've been tested and am HBsAg-negative, so we'll wait a few weeks or months after birth to start the vaccination series. I know the Hep B vaccine helps greatly when the mother is HBsAg-positive, but I'm not, and see no point in assaulting a newborn's immune system within 12 hours of birth. Just my opinion, of course. ;-)

I'd probably have my kids vaccinated for HPV in the pre-teen years. At the age they'd get it, it's not like the kids really know what the shots are FOR anyways. It's all a jumble of letters - MMR, Hep B, Tdap, IPV.


I think with a careful discussion about the birds and the bees, and familial expectations that teens will not be sexually active, this vaccine could be quite protective. Of course the ideal would be for one's kids to wait until they're serious,monogamous, and out of their teens to have sex, preferably until marriage. However, the reality is that less than 20% of people today go to the altar as virgins - including kids raised in good moral families. HPV in men is particularly asymptomatic and if a daughter's husband had a few "wild" college years before settling down, he could pass the infection along unknowingly. I'd rather my kids be protected from the teen years on.