HPV vaccine in place to protect women, save money
Sep 23, 2007 - 12:00 AM
By Ian McMillan
Years ago you had to pay up if you wanted a flu shot.
Not anymore. The Province started a free flu shot program a half-dozen years ago to help save lives and money after hospital emergency rooms and doctor’s offices were overrun by those who were suffering from the flu. The Province realized spending thousands and thousands for prevention was worth millions and millions of savings in cure.
Now the Province is offering free Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines for girls in Grade 8 as part of a program to prevent 100 types of HPV which can lead to cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, precancerous lesions and genital warts.
Sounds simple enough but there are a number of groups out there who want nothing to do with the vaccine because they believe it promotes promiscuity.
I find it hard to believe a vaccination shot is going to make a young woman more promiscuous.
If your faith tells you to abstain from sexual contact until marriage, that’s fine, but it’s asking a lot to expect all those who attend separate schools to be completely chaste until marriage. It’s a risk parents might be willing to take that could have dire consequences for their daughters in future years.
Not everyone has faith but a whole lot of us have sex so there’s no guarantee the love of your life will not be infected with HPV. You see it’s not something women get exclusively, but it is easily passed on.
Human beings are a messy bunch. Without any effort at all we pass on millions of viruses to one another on a daily basis. It’s part of life unfortunately. So if the Province feels it’s the right thing to do to protect women with this vaccine I see no harm in it. It’s not being forced on us but it could save lives and money in the future. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
News editor Ian McMillan’s column usually appears every other Sunday. He can be e-mailed at imcmillan@durhamregion.com.
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