HPV Virus for Boys--Will Parents Be Its Biggest Obstacle?

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Article first published as Will Fears of Homosexuality Curtail Parents from Getting Sons Vaccinated for HPV? on Technorati.

The Advisory Panel on Immunization Practices for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just recommended that all boys and young men from age 9 through age 26 receive the HPV vaccine. The vaccine is said to prevent the human papillomavirus or HPV. Girls and young women were recommended to receive the vaccine a few years ago in order to guard against cervical cancer. The advisory panel, which has been considering the expansion of the vaccine to males, released its findings that the male vaccine will guard against anal and throat cancer in males. The panel is recommending that males between the ages of 11 and 12 should be vaccinated along with their other vaccines, but all males between the ages of 9 and as old as 26 receive the three shots constituting the vaccine.

A vaccine against cancer — seems parents would be running their sons to the pediatrician's office to get such a vaccine. But sadly, it is anticipated that the fact that the vaccine guards against anal cancer and throat cancer, two types of cancer associated with homosexual behavior, will seriously curb the number of parents who are willing to seek out the vaccine for their sons.

A similar problem has been evident in the vaccination of young females. Research has demonstrated that parents are reluctant to obtain the vaccine for their daughters, afraid that it will in some way, condone sexual activity. Statistics show that while the vaccine has been available for girls since 2006 only 49 percent of adolescent girls have actually received at least one of the three required shots. As of last year, the total number of adolescent females that have received the full vaccine, all three shots, amounted to only one third of adolescent girls. Since the controversy over sexual promiscuity has shadowed the female vaccine process, the connotation of homosexuality, however misconceived, may prove an insurmountable obstacle to parents of male children. 

Parents of both sexes need to put aside their own preconceptions about sexual promiscuity and homosexuality to protect their children, experts recommend. Experts agree that the vaccine may be the best way to avoid the risk of children contracting the cancer causing virus. To inflame matters even more for some parents is the entire political debate that has recently surrounded the vaccine when Texas Governor Rick Perry was criticized for his mandatory HPV vaccination for females in Texas and Minnesota representative, Michele Bachman's suggestion that the vaccine caused mental retardation. Bachman's opinion was vehemently opposed by researchers and physicians who decried her allegations and publicly challenged her to come forward to proof of her allegations. 

Read more: http://technorati.com/women/article/will-fears-of-homosexuality-curtail-parents/#ixzz1bynwUZhk

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