Everyone should have the CHOICE to get the vaccine, but I'll wait to get my daughter the shot until I'm confident Merck and the FDA have actually done their homework.
I get a little agitated when it comes to public health.
I agree that at this time you should have the choice with this immunization. There is still more to learn.
If the facts show that this is a safe vaccine and there is a significant public health need, (vacinating your child will not only protect her but other girls from cancer) there may be sufficient cause for manditory vaccination.
The more I consider the vaccine, the less sure I am that is should be mandatory under the current guidelines.
I agree that it should be given prior to menarche, especially is it can live under the nails. It would be a shame for girls to become infected prior to vaccination.
I think that if it is to be mandatory, it should be given to both girls and boys. To make it truely a public health project, the goal should be eradication of the more carcinogenic variations of the virus. As I was ruminating in my prior posts, it became more clear to me that even though you may be protecting 90% of the vaccinated girls from cancer, you are not protecting the unvaccinated girls and the nonresponding girls. To get herd immunity, it would require manditory vaccination of both boys and girls.
The question is, which better serves the public good, letting a few 10,000’s women a year die and treating a few hundred thousands a year(a rough estimate, mortality was decreasing the last time I checked) or vaccinating all children.
The arguments for this disease are a little different from some of the other diseases that require manditory vaccination. An outbreak of some diseases can cause huge disruption of civil operations. It is very easy to show harm to the public is greater that harm to the individual. With this vaccination, the outcome is years later and causes more individual harm.
I may just walk away from this thread. This issue is a little to close to my heart. You seem to be thoughful, and I’m sure that you will make the right choice for your daughter.
One final thought, remember that an individual CHOICE will always affect more than the individual.
OK, I guess I’m not ready to walk away from the thread just yet. I have spent years in public health and I am very glad that there are laws regarding public hygeine and vaccinations. In a world where there are people wanting to take my choice away in how I worship, how I protect my family, how I can use my land while on the other hand justifying the deaths of 10’s of millions of babies based on the right to choice, things get very confusing. What I know was prior to the public hygiene movement, the average lifespan in the US was about 40, after public health laws and vaccinations were instituted, the average life span increased to about 65. This is prior to allopathic medicine developing antibiotics, blood pressure medicine or any of the technology we assume has blessed us with long relatively healthy lives. I would hate to see us lose that because of the same arguments that gave us abortion on demand.
If you made it through that diatribe bless you, and forgive me.