I'm "Taking A Shot" At Louisville Courier Journal Editorial's OBSESSION With Forcing Our Daughters To Receive HPV Shots: Hands Off My Daughter's Body!
Editorial | Taking a shot
If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, then why aren’t more moms and dads having their daughters and sons vaccinated against the human papilloma virus, the most commonly sexually transmitted disease and one that leads to thousands of cancers each year?
Even if parental squeamishness is factored in, it’s hard to argue against taking precautions against the possibility of one’s offspring contracting the cancers associated with the virus. Those include cervical and anal cancers, as well as genital warts; there also is reason to believe an increase in head and neck cancers is linked to HPV through oral sex.
The federal government has recommended for several years that girls between the ages of 9 and 26 receive the vaccine to reduce risk of cervical cancer, but it is mostly given to 11- and 12-year-old girls. The vaccine is most effective when it is given to people who are not yet sexually active.
Despite that medical advice, and federal approval of two vaccines, the numbers of girls receiving the vaccination is disappointingly low — only 49 percent of adolescent girls have received at least the first of three shots, and fewer than a third have received all three doses.
This year, the American Academy of Pediatrics added the HPV vaccine to the list of recommended vaccines for boys, too, and this week a federal medical advisory panel bumped up the consciousness-raising by making the same recommendation — an important step in leading to federal policy adoption and doctors’ advice.
None of this — the recommendations, the medicine, the prevention — will mean much unless patients (or their responsible guardians) step up for this lifesaving measure. So far, that’s not happening.
That means the medical community, and the federal government, will have to do a better job of communicating the reasons for the vaccine.
The media will have to do a better job of clearing up falsehoods about the prevention and calling purveyors on their malicious myth-making. (Witness Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and the recent and damaging whopper she told about the vaccine; responsible media outlets debunked her bogus claims.) Parents will have to read up on the prevention and overcome their own hang-ups on sexuality and their children — and make responsible decisions about their children’s present and future health, despite the emotionally tricky territory.
As one of the doctors involved in this week’s discussion said, “This is cancer, for Pete’s sake. A vaccine against cancer was the dream of our youth.”
It can be the reality of American youths’ present — if only the kids were getting the shots.
If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, then why aren’t more moms and dads having their daughters and sons vaccinated against the human papilloma virus, the most commonly sexually transmitted disease and one that leads to thousands of cancers each year?
Even if parental squeamishness is factored in, it’s hard to argue against taking precautions against the possibility of one’s offspring contracting the cancers associated with the virus. Those include cervical and anal cancers, as well as genital warts; there also is reason to believe an increase in head and neck cancers is linked to HPV through oral sex.
The federal government has recommended for several years that girls between the ages of 9 and 26 receive the vaccine to reduce risk of cervical cancer, but it is mostly given to 11- and 12-year-old girls. The vaccine is most effective when it is given to people who are not yet sexually active.
Despite that medical advice, and federal approval of two vaccines, the numbers of girls receiving the vaccination is disappointingly low — only 49 percent of adolescent girls have received at least the first of three shots, and fewer than a third have received all three doses.
This year, the American Academy of Pediatrics added the HPV vaccine to the list of recommended vaccines for boys, too, and this week a federal medical advisory panel bumped up the consciousness-raising by making the same recommendation — an important step in leading to federal policy adoption and doctors’ advice.
None of this — the recommendations, the medicine, the prevention — will mean much unless patients (or their responsible guardians) step up for this lifesaving measure. So far, that’s not happening.
That means the medical community, and the federal government, will have to do a better job of communicating the reasons for the vaccine.
The media will have to do a better job of clearing up falsehoods about the prevention and calling purveyors on their malicious myth-making. (Witness Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and the recent and damaging whopper she told about the vaccine; responsible media outlets debunked her bogus claims.) Parents will have to read up on the prevention and overcome their own hang-ups on sexuality and their children — and make responsible decisions about their children’s present and future health, despite the emotionally tricky territory.
As one of the doctors involved in this week’s discussion said, “This is cancer, for Pete’s sake. A vaccine against cancer was the dream of our youth.”
It can be the reality of American youths’ present — if only the kids were getting the shots.
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 9:43 AM
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