Morals, not a vaccine, needed in middle school

The Virginian Pilot ^ | 1/20/07 | Kerry Dougherty

[wagglebee]

Let's walk through a medical minefield together.

Merck & Co., a major drug manufacturer, has developed a vaccine called Gardasil that protects against some forms of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus. Another pharmaceutical company is nearly ready to market something similar.

Good.

Experts claim HPV vaccines can protect women against cervical cancer.

Terrific.

For the vaccine to work, it should be administered before a woman becomes sexually active.

Logical.

So, health professionals recommend that girls as young as 11 receive the shots.

Troubling.

There's only one conclusion to be drawn by this tender age limit: more than a few girls are having sex at 12.

These waifs don't need a vaccine. They need morals. And parents to tell them not to have sex in middle school, lest they catch a nasty disease. Like genital warts, which are not prevented by the shots.

Then again, who needs parents when you have state government?

Enter Del. Phillip Hamilton of Newport News. He's introduced HB2035, which would add the HPV vaccine to the list of inoculations girls will need to enter sixth grade in the fall of 2008. You read that correctly. Sixth grade.

This isn't just a single shot. It's a series of three. The cost is about $360, and according to news reports, some health insurance companies don't cover it.

Not to worry. On Friday, Hamilton told me that once the vaccine is mandatory, chances are insurance companies will pay.

Hang on to your wallets, folks. This is going to cost us.

"If it becomes mandatory, the health department has to offer it for free," Hamilton acknowledged.

Of course, taxpayers fund the health departments, so we'll get to pay - twice. Once in our insurance premiums and again in our taxes.

The price for this medical munificence? When I spoke to him, Hamilton didn't have the data.

The delegate does know he's against cancer, though. Hamilton told me that if drug companies develop vaccines against other cancers - prostate or colon, for instance - he'd support making those immunizations mandatory, too.

The justification for all this government meddling in our immune systems requires a leap of logic that Hamilton has made: You must equate the danger of HPV with devastating diseases such as polio.

Sorry, delegate. There's no comparison. HPV can be controlled by behavior. Behavior that shouldn't be going on in middle school.

Parents who think it's a good idea to vaccinate their little girls against sexually transmitted diseases can do it. No need for a mandate.

You may wonder why Hamilton introduced this measure.

Is he responding to parental demand? Is he doing this because pediatricians think it's a swell idea?

Nope. In fact, The Pilot reported that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the vaccine but isn't yet asking states to make it mandatory.

According to news reports, Hamilton, chairman of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions, introduced this bill at the behest of the pharmaceutical industry.

Let's at least be honest and call this the Merck Mandate. How many votes would that get?

[4Liberty]

OK, thanks for your optimism.
BTW, Bob Barr just joined the Libertarian Party.
He's on "our" team, now.

4L

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." -Thomas Jefferson

[veganhoosier]

As much as you would like for that to happen, it might not work out that way. After a certain point, even if she is not of the legal age of majority, she will be able to make her own decisions regarding her sexuality. You may not agree, but I feel that health is far more important that dogma.

[veganhoosier]

I do not think that religion is the determing factor is sexual activity. I wasn't raised in a strict religious or moral home, I was actually raised by parents that felt it was important for me to make my own decisions. As a result of that I am a college student that made the decision to remain sexually inactive. It would be rediculous to make the statement that a lack of strict moral codes would lead to sexual activity.

[brwnsuga]

She will not have sex before marriage. Abstinence is dd-able not dogma.

[veganhoosier]

Birth control does not automatically lead to sexual activity. I, for instance, am on birth control because I have a hormonal deficit and the hormone therapy lessens symptoms of that deficit. I know several girls who are also on birth control for the hormonal aspect, such as regulating their cycles, who, like me, are not sexually active.

[LWalk18]

Abstinence before marriage followed by monogamy is 100% guaranteed to prevent ALL sexually transmitted diseases.

Abstinence by both husband and wife- a wedding ring won't stop transmission of the virus if Susie waited until her wedding night but Bobby, "boys being boys" and all, picked up the virus.

Do you want to bet your daughter's life on whether your son-in-law is a virgin?

[micho]

Look up the stats on birth control pills. You will find it enables most teens and others. You are in the minority of why people start to take the pill in the first place.

[LWalk18]

Look up the stats on birth control pills. You will find it enables most teens and others. You are in the minority of why people start to take the pill in the first place.

Fear of pregnancy is a far greater reason to remain abstinent for teens than an STD many haven't even heard of. This vaccine will not have the same effect as contraception or abortion.