In a surprise move, the governor of Texas has bypassed the legislature and the public health officials and signed an order making the new HPV (cervical cancer) vaccine mandatory for all girls in the state. Parents may refuse, as with other vaccines in Texas, on religious grounds.
This is a worrisome development, and there are legislative proposals in many other states as well to make it mandatory. I worry about parents rights whenever any vaccine is made mandatory. At least in Georgia, parents may refuse any vaccine on religious grounds. (That is the only grounds in Georgia; parents who have a philosophical objection are forced to lie and say that they have a religious objection).
I can understand the thinking behind making some vaccines mandatory, though I do not necessarily agree. I can understand it for diseases that spread easily and rapidly from child to child and which are serious or fatal. Such is the case with most vaccines, including polio, measles, mumps, and the like. However, human papillomavirus (HPV) is only transmitted sexually. The decision about whether to receive this vaccine is best left to the parent and the child, and the individual circumstances and decisions that the family and the child are making. Such decisions do not belong in the hands of our government, or your doctors for that matter. We do make the vaccine available to our patients, and advise parents and children of the risks and benefits of the vaccine and the virus itself, and help parents and children make informed decisions.
I do not think that the vaccine, when viewed and discussed in the right manner, sanctions teen sexual activity or contradicts an abstinence philosophy. This is also the position of conservative Christian groups such as Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. However, these groups are likely to oppose making the vaccine mandatory, for the reasons discussed above. Hopefully, making the vaccine mandatory will not become a national trend.
