Palindrome wrote: Gov. Rick Perry ordered Friday that schoolgirls in Texas must be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, making Texas the first state to require the shots. The girls will have to get Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.
First, this is not about hangups this is about forcing a population to get vacinated against something that is not a threat to society. It can not be transmitted through daily interaction. Even if this is an epidemic this is not the way to address the situation. On top of that even if this vaccine had been tested for years and years we are talking about 11 year olds. Even though some 11 year old are acting like they are grown ups they aren't and there bodies are different/ Drug effects are different. Jello:Schools already make kids get vaccinated for a variety of diseases. I don't think you can attend public school without being vaccinated for Mumps, Measles, Rubella or Polio, for instance. The reason for this is that children interact in manners that would allow for transmission: they touch each other, they sit near each other, they cough. HPV is an epidemic. Most young people have it. Once you accept that children have sex with one another, and therefore act in a way that routinely transmits this disease... it follows that they should be vaccinated, and its no more Orwellian than vaccinating children against Measles, because they cough on one another.
Secondly, It is the first step in making laws taking away people's right to make decisions about their own bodies. I have two children that sit next to each other in my class. Kaitlyn and Dylan. Kaitlyn does not have a choice in the fact that Dylan often coughs on her or touches her or her stuff. Kaitlyn does have a choice on whether she lets Dylan have sex with her. If not that is rape and that is where the requirement belongs. Freedom of choice is the issue. I have two nieces who I love like they were my own. I help raise them it remains one of the two hardest things I have ever done. You don't mess with peoples right to make their own decision much less a parent's right to make decisions about their children. If we were there are much better places to start. If this flies they are one step closer to requiring all kinds of procedures and vaccinations because they know what's best for you and making things like abortion illegal.
The decision here isn't really about sex, but whether or not they are immune to HPV, a virus which causes cancer, and which most young people get. I don't feel that losing your right to choose to be vulnerable to HPV is a serious matter, and I don't think it impacts sexuality whatsoever. Nobody is telling you who to have sex with, or to have sex at all. In fact kids are told to wait. Bottom line: they just want to stop a disease epidemic that starts spreading in schools. I don't see a difference between this, and any other disease. I don't care how they're transmitted. It doesn't matter. Immunity is better than non-immunity if the vaccine is safe. FDA says it is. I believe them. Start shooting it into kids arms and we'll beat HPV in a generation, and can move onto the next virus. RE: Texas Requires Cancer Vaccine for Girls |
