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Hpv Vaccine

Making the HPC Vaccine Mandatory in Young Girls is Unethical

COM 125 Utilizing Information in College Writing
July 1, 2007

In this modern day and age, it is amazing the kinds of leaps and bounds that the health care and pharmaceutical industries have made. The newest to their list of accomplishments is a new pharmaceutical drug that can help to ward off the human papillomavirus, more commonly known as HPV. HPV is a group of viruses that includes more than 100 different strains or types; more than 30 of these viruses are sexually transmitted (MedicineNet.com). The first company to have their drug approved by the FDA is a company by the name of Merck & Co., Inc., and they named the drug Gardasil. Gardasil is able to help ward off HPV 16 and 18 that cause cervical cancer and HPV 6 and 11 that cause genital warts. The vaccine is administrated in a series of three injections spanned out in a six-month period (Gardasil.com). This new vaccine has been affective so far in warding off these types of HPV with few side effects. Because of this success, it is now being pushed to be a mandatory vaccination for school enrollment, and it is with this purposed mandate I do not agree.
The recommendation for this vaccination began in June 2006 by the national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). ACIP recommends administrating the vaccine to girls between the ages of 11 and 12, before they become sexually active. Even after recommendations by the ACIP, school vaccine requirements are decided mostly by state legislatures. Some state legislatures have granted regulatory bodies such as the Health Department the power to require vaccines, but they still need the legislator to provide funding (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2007).
The following is an insert from the National Conference of State Legislatures showing which states have and have not introduced the HPV vaccine into legislation, and the state actions that are under way. This information...