BERGEN COUNTY RIGHT TO LIFE

Issue with mandating HPV vaccine for young girls

Gardasil is a new vaccine designed to guard against a type of cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Merck, the manufacturer, has dropped its campaign to convince states to mandate the vaccine for sixth-grade girls before they can enter school. But many states, including NJ, have bills before the Assembly and Senate requiring it.

Scientists believe that HPV is widespread among sexually active girls and women, and causes 70% of cervical cancer cases. But we should not rush to force the vaccine:

Mandated vaccination assumes that self-destructive sexual practices are acceptable. It says that girls as young as 11 could be having sex with multiple partners and must receive this vaccine for protection. As Catholics, we believe sexual activity is reserved for married partners. While not everyone will adhere to these moral guidelines, that does not mean we should “give up”.

A mandate undermines parental rights. Canon Law 1136 states that "Parents have the ...primary right to ensure their children`s physical, social, cultural, moral and religious upbringing".The cervical cancer caused by HPV is not a public health threat along the lines of diptheria, pertussis, and other communicable diseases contracted through casual contact. This decision should be up to the individual discretion of families and their health care providers.

Gardasil has side effects, and no one knows what long-term ill effects it could cause. It is simply too new, and untried in a large population.

Rather than spend hundreds of millions on injecting everyone with this HPV vaccine, a better strategy would be to tackle the culture of promiscuity instead, especially since this vaccine will not combat all the other dangerous STDs. Parents who believe their girls are at high risk of sexual activity might want give their daughters the vaccine…hopefully, at later ages than 12. But use of the vaccine could be encouraged, rather than mandated.