Sixth Grade Girls and the HPV Vaccine
As the girls who are entering sixth grade begin
the school year, their parents will be asked to fill out a
form from the
Indiana Department of Health that requires (by state law) the parent
to “check one of three responses” and return the
form to school. The three
choices are:
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We plan
to have our daughter receive the HPV vaccine
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We DO NOT
plan to have our daughter receive the HPV vaccine.
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We choose
NOT to provide information to the school concerning our daughter’s
vaccination status.
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The
form does not ask the parent to sign or give a
name, only a date. It is also stated on the
form that “a student may not be
prevented from enrolling in, attending, or graduating from school for the
sole reason the student has not provided the school with this information.”
The law, passed in the 2007 session of the
legislature, also requires the schools to provide information to the parents
of sixth grade girls. A “Fact Sheet” provided by the state health department
on the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection and vaccine will be given to all
parents along with the form. Click
here to see the fact sheet.
What is Missing?
The State Health Department failed to report information issued by a
leading researcher in the development of the HPV vaccine. Diane M. Harper
has been studying HPV and a possible vaccine for several of the more than
100 strains of HPV for 20 years. She claims the vaccine has not been
tested for effectiveness in younger girls, and there also is not
enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an
issue. All of her trials have been with subjects ages 15 to 25. She says
giving the drug to 11- year old girls “is a great big health experiment.”
“The public needs to know that with vaccinated women and women who get Pap
smears, some of them will still get cervical cancer.” The reason? Because
the vaccine does not protect against all HPV viruses that cause cancer –
it’s only effective against two that cause about 70 percent of cervical
cancers” She believes it is a good vaccine, but advises all women to
continue with their Pap smears, even if they are inoculated with this
vaccine.
(Diane
Harper’s comments published by Cindy Bevington 3/14/07 – KPC News)
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