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Written by Debojit
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Saturday, 17 March 2007 |
There was supposed to be a battle. "The passage acrimony in that a cancer vaccine," trumpeted Fortune paper last fall. "Injected bag a controversy," headlined USA Today. But the conservative groups expected to shudders the new human papilloma virus vaccine because it might encourage sexual activity never put up their dukes. "From what I saw from my desk, this fight never existed. We support the vaccine," says Linda Klepacki, a nurse and health analyst for Focus on the Family, the faith-based conservative advocacy group in Colorado Springs, Colo.
There was supposed to be a battle. "The passage acrimony in that a cancer vaccine," trumpeted Fortune paper last fall. "Injected bag a controversy," headlined USA Today. But the conservative groups expected to shudders the new human papilloma virus vaccine because it might encourage sexual activity never put up their dukes. "From what I saw from my desk, this fight never existed. We support the vaccine," says Linda Klepacki, a nurse and health analyst for Focus on the Family, the faith-based conservative advocacy group in Colorado Springs, Colo.
But her aid comes with a caveat: The viewpoint
from the national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (the vaccine is awaiting touchstone by the Food and Drug Administration) and the vaccine makers that vaccination should father with girls ages 11 or 12 may be scene parlous far. "These are minors. Parents have the right to be their primary decision makers," says Klepacki. She's concerned that making this vaccination mandatory--to enroll in school, for instance--takes that decision out of parents' hands. And once these kids feel safe from HPV, a sexually transmitted infection, they will indeed have more sex, she says.
Studies jaw not so. Fear of sexual illness ranks overly down-hearted on the catalogue of reasons for not having sex, according to the National Survey of Family Growth. Far further required is whether premarital sex is against the teachings of parents. "I think educating kids about these things is what makes a difference," says Lisa Wigfall, 33, whose children Helen and Tony Wright are in clinical trials of the vaccine. "Not some shot." And as for targeting such young kids, the point is to protect them before what is delicately called "sexual debut." But Klepacki says there's another, better way: abstinence until marriage. That may be, says Wigfall, but a shot is good insurance.
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