Monday, March 25, 2013

Exploration 10


In the article, A Push for HPV Vaccinations, as a teenage girl, I was surprised to learn that the majority of girls have not been vaccinated for the human papillomavirus which protects women against the strains of that virus which can cause cervical cancer.  Research shows various reasons against getting the vaccine.  The vaccine is 3 doses which requires more trips to the doctor, it comes with a notion that because HPV is a sexually transmitted infection, some parents fear that their daughters might think that they are condoning sex if they get them vaccinated, and then there is just the fear of vaccines itself.  One doctor said that she found that the most educated parents were the ones who chose not to get their daughters vaccinated because of just their fear of vaccines or because they were not ready to bring up the “topic of sex”.  Dr. Perkins described a typical encounter with a Hispanic mother. “She said, ‘In my country, if a baby doesn’t get vaccines, the baby dies. Why would I not do this? ” I agree, why wouldn’t you want to protect your children from things that could possibly hurt them.  Cervical cancer is a killer in women, so it makes no sense to me that so many women choose not to get vaccinated against the virus that causes it.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/a-push-for-hpv-vaccinations/?ref=science


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