the fact that there’s now an effective vaccine for hpv, the virus which causes most cases of cervical cancer, should be unambiguously good news for women and girls everywhere. and yet it’s surrounded by controversy in america, simply because state governments are intent on forcing it down people’s throat.

hpv is primarily a sexually transmitted disease, and many children haven’t even had the most basic sexual education by age 11. yet in spite of this the governor of texas has already ordered it a mandatory vaccine for his state and florida, indiana, illinois, and virginia have all considered making it one of the required vaccines necessary for 11-12 year old girls to attend public school. state legislators are all lining up as pro- or anti- mandatory vaccination, while much of their constituent conservative christian community has been in a uproar over such plans, claiming it will lead to increased promiscuity amongst young teens, by condoning premarital sex.

proponents of widespread mandatory vaccination argue that this is an anti-cancer vaccine, rather than an STD vaccine. but the fact remains that HPV is most commonly spread sexually. this makes it substantially different to all other mandatory vaccines, because the legal rationale behind other required innoculations is that the general public are at risk of contracting diseases from non-vaccinated people *through casual contact*. chicken pox, whooping cough, polio – these are all things you can easily transmit, and it’s not fair to other members of the public to put them at risk. HPV is a very different category, in that it’s unlikely to be caught through non-intimate contact – which therefore means the same public health arguments for schools/workplaces/etc. simply do not apply.

and that’s where lawmakers have got themself into a muddle – because while it’s a great thing to do voluntarily, making it mandatory somehow seems far too intrusive. the difficulty is, most people don’t think the gov’t should have anything to do with somone’s sex life, even in a preventative way. many parents don’t want the government involved in their child’s sexual development and education, and unfortunately it’s impossible to separate the virus from the way in which it’s transmitted. in a country which is becoming more and more conservative, and more and more christian, insinuating that their precious daughters will someday soon become sexually active is a message many voters just don’t want to hear. add to that the recent spate of scepticism over mandatory vaccines, pharmaceutical companies’ capitalistic conflicts of interest, and a recent rash of unintended devastating side effects from products rushed to market, and you are left with a sharply divided public opinion – which then becomes a gaping hole of missed opportunity.

the ability to potentially prevent cancer in thousands of young women a year is an incredible golden opportunity, and this vaccine could save innumerable lives. it’s just too bad lawmakers may have shot themselves in the foot with overzealous intrusion into the private lives of teenage girls.

song of the day: Amy Winehouse – Rehab

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