In Texas, at least, parents can opt their daughters out of the vaccine. You just need to state that you are “philosophically” opposed which is a lower standard than the “religious” exemption that you need for other vaccines. You cannot be kept out of a public school (in TX) for refusing the vaccine.
My problem with this vaccine is many-fold but the two big issues (for me) are:
1: The vaccine is being targeted to girls entering 6th grade in order to “catch” them before they are sexually active. This will be seen by the girls as some kind of protection. If it was given in early childhood, along with all of the others (measles, mumps, etc), I would be less opposed.
2: The pro-vaccine forces are touting this as the vaccine to prevent cancer. This is blatantly false. The vaccine prevents some of the strains of the HPV virus which cause some of the cases of cervical cancer. It does nothing to prevent infection by the other HPV strains or to prevent cervical cancer from other causes. Why are they lying?
This is on top of the whole issues of it being tested only on a very limited population so far, the link between Merck and the TX government and the (possible) abuse of executive privilege issues.
Corki, you really should get your facts straight. Even if it is only one strain (which is not the case) of the human papilloma virus which is associated with cervical cancer, that is enough reason to vaccinate. Sex crazed? Yes, but I think it’s the Church.
Read on…
HPV Infection
Almost all strains of HPV that infect the anogenital tract are capable of causing abnormal cervical cytology.[11,22,23] A clear causal relationship has been established between HPV infection and cervical cancer, and HPV is found in nearly 100% of cervical malignancies worldwide.[2,24] This link is the highest attributable fraction ever identified for a specific cause of a major human cancer worldwide.[22,24] The latency period between initial HPV exposure and development of cervical cancer may be months to years. Although rapid progression is possible, average time from initial infection to manifestation of invasive cervical cancer is estimated at up to 15 years.[9]
Genital HPV strains are divided into two groups, based on their oncogenic potential and ability to induce viral-associated tumors. Certain strains termed “high-risk strains” (HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, and 68) are associated with intraepithelial neoplasia and are more likely to progress to severe lesions and cancer.[25] Of these, HPV 16 and 18 are the most carcinogenic and most prevalent.[3,8,22] HPV 16 is the predominant strain in almost all regions of the world, with the exception of Southeast Asia, where HPV 18 has the highest prevalence.[12,22] HPV 16 alone accounts for more than 50% of HPV infections, and it is estimated that almost 20% of American women are infected.[8,22,26] High-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions are most commonly associated with HPV 16 and 18, yet these strains are also frequently found to be the etiologic factor in minor lesions and mild dysplasia.[3]
I’m sure that would also be protected as private information, so I guess anyone who might want to take that under consideration, couldn’t find out anyway, except by the person that is responsible making it available for them to know. I’m sure the default position is for the party that is concerned about, in their records if it’s not written down, it wasn’t done. (Unless it needs to be in consideration for a fairly immediate medical intervention.)