HPV Vaccine, and Parents' view on sex

[Darth Wong]

Unfortunately, debates like this are always framed in terms of the parents' rights rather than their responsibilities to their own offspring. That's why every country I know of will make exemptions available to vaccination policies for religious purposes, not just medical ones.

[Justforfun000]

Unfortunately, debates like this are always framed in terms of the parents' rights rather than their responsibilities to their own offspring. That's why every country I know of will make exemptions available to vaccination policies for religious purposes, not just medical ones.

Well said. I hate those fucking arguments that a parent should have the right to make a kid's decisions for them,
even ones that' are potentially harmful and permanent like circumcision. Didn't know quite how to sum the problem with the viewpoint;. You just nailed it,. As always.

[Edi]

I'm not sure if Finland has a legislative loophole which allows exemptions on religious grounds. Our laws are very strict about the welfare of the child and parents who try to argue for their rights at the expense of their kids have consistently been assraped in court. I'd need to check the vaccine thing, but it would be awesome if we didn't allow exemptions. I'm not betting on that, however.

[SCRawl]

In our area, you need to get vaccinations if you want to put your kid in public school, and most of the kids are in public school, so I'd say it stands to reason that most parents don't buy into this hysteria. I doubt it's more than a very small fraction of parents who buy into it, although their media footprint may make them look like a bigger group.

Even in our area, there are enough religious nuts on the fucking school boards that this vaccination has been banned from some of the Catholic (public) schools. Yeah, they tout the same "double message" nonsense as has already been discussed. Unfortunately, I can't vote for this school board's trustees, as my kids will attend schools from a different board. These are the same douchebags who voted to ban "The Golden Compass" from the school libraries a year or so ago.

The Halton Catholic District School Board will not allow the public health department to use school property for its Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine program.

Although the board previously voted in favour of letting the health department administer the vaccine at its schools during the 2007-08 school year, five out of nine trustees rallied against renewing the partnership for the upcoming school year at Tuesday night's meeting.

Burlington trustee Joanne Matters, who argued that the initiative was against the Catholic church, introduced the motion.

"I believe this clearly sends a double message to our students," said Matters. "In the Catholic education system, we teach the teachings of the Catholic church, which are quite clear about sex before marriage, and on the other hand we offer a vaccine against a disease that can only be contracted through sexual activity."

The HPV vaccination program is publicly funded and involves giving Grade 8 girls across the province three doses of a drug called Gardasil.

The provincial initiative has been a hotly-debated item among Catholic boards across Ontario.

Halton Catholic school board trustees allowed the public health department to administer the vaccine in the schools last fall after debating the issue at great length. One of the stipulations accompanying the decision was that parents would ultimately decide if their Grade 8 daughter would receive the vaccine by signing a consent form. The participation rate of this program in the board's schools was 35 per cent as of November 2007, according to Lou Piovesan, director of education.

The trustees' mixed feelings on the issue resurfaced during a brief discussion held before the vote on Tuesday night.

"Being a parent of a young girl, I speak with her on a regular basis about these kinds of issues and I believe the majority of parents do talk to their children on these issues," said Burlington trustee Arlene Iantomasi. "I don't feel we should be taking away the right of the parents from making this decision. I don't see the difference between this program and any other immunization program, especially the Hepatitis B program... I think children do have moments of lapses in judgment and I would hate to see one's health jeopardized in regards to this."

Oakville trustee Alice Anne LeMay said the issue is about providing space for the health department, not administering the vaccine. "We are not offering this vaccine. We are offering space in a publicly-funded building for a program that is also publicly funded," she said. "I don't think it is up to a board of trustees to say who can and cannot have the vaccination."

But these comments were met with resistance by trustees like Burlington's Bob Van de Vrande, who said there is something suggestive about administering a shot for a sexually transmitted disease.

"I think the argument against the motion could be equivalent to making two square feet available in the bathrooms of the schools to hang condom vending machines," said the trustee. "What is the difference between that and what is being performed?"

Other trustees worried about the public's reaction to the back-and-forth decisions of the board.

"The concern I have is second-guessing decisions that we have made isn't in our best interest," said Milton trustee Reverend David Wilhelm.

Dr. Bob Nosal, Halton Region's medical officer of health, said he was disappointed with the board's decision.

"Obviously, I would have preferred that motion not to have passed as we have been able to use the schools at both the public and Catholic school board for the past year for the HPV vaccine," he said.

Nosal said the program was working well in the schools, adding that it will now likely be more of an inconvenience for the parents and students involved.

"When it is at the school, the girls are already there, we take them out of the classroom and the parents simply have to sign the consent form and it all works very well," he said. "What will happen now is that parents will have to take time off work or get off work early and take their kids to a clinic if they choose to immunize them."

The HPV vaccination program was successful in its first year, according to Nosal, who said the final participation rate of Grade 8 girls in Halton's Catholic schools was 40 per cent and growing. The participation rate in public schools was 53 per cent.

The HPV vaccination program's participation rate for all Grade 8 girls in Halton Region was 48 per cent.

Currently, the HPV vaccination program is only available through department of health clinics, which means family physicians cannot administer the publicly-funded shots.

Nosal said that the health department would work on finding solutions to the obstacles created by the board's decision, with one option being an increase in community immunization clinics.

He stressed that parents of girls entering Grade 8 in the fall should seriously consider the vaccination program.

"The key message is that it is a safe, effective vaccine and it offers excellent protection against four strains of the Human Papilloma Virus, including two strains that cause 70 per cent of all cervical cancer," he said. "This is basically a vaccine that can prevent cancer. It is an incredibly important one and many parents have realized that and have taken the opportunity to immunize their kids."

The Halton District School Board, meanwhile, provided space at its facilities in the 2007-08 school year for the health department to administer the HPV vaccination program. It will continue to do so again in the fall, according to Marnie Denton, manager of communications with the public board.

[Junghalli]

Well said. I hate those fucking arguments that a parent should have the right to make a kid's decisions for them,
even ones that' are potentially harmful and permanent like circumcision. Didn't know quite how to sum the problem with the viewpoint;. You just nailed it,. As always.

Yeah, I too have always been incredibly annoyed with the "my child should be mine to do with as I please" crowd. I especially love it when they whine about their rights and then turn around and say stuff like "well, children have lots of decisions made for them by others, so tough". They don't even seem to realize what incredibly self-centered asshats they look like.

[Justforfun000]

Junghalli Wrote:

Yeah, I too have always been incredibly annoyed with the "my child should be mine to do with as I please" crowd. I especially love it when they whine about their rights and then turn around and say stuff like "well, children have lots of decisions made for them by others, so tough". They don't even seem to realize what incredibly self-centered asshats they look like.

You know, I think these people actually have a mental image of children being little clones of theirs or something that are almost along the lines of how they view the ownership of a pet. I find it at the very least mildly disturbing.

[SirNitram]

Unfortunately, debates like this are always framed in terms of the parents' rights rather than their responsibilities to their own offspring. That's why every country I know of will make exemptions available to vaccination policies for religious purposes, not just medical ones.

Frankly, it's amazing what are apparently a parent's 'rights'. From various medical situations, I believe the list is:

1) Enforce their religious beliefs on the child.
2) Enforce their hate of proven medical techniques.
3) Expose their child to life-threatening events.
4) Be treated as innocent bystanders should 1-3 kill the child.
5) Tie up the court system ignoring their offsprings wishes and the next of kin's(Schiavo).
6) Tie up federal governments as per 5)(Schiavo again).
7) Ignore all ethical questions about treatment by attacking questioner.
8) Ignore all pragmatic questions about actual usefulness of treatment, as above.
9) Demand the Federal government foot the bill for 1-8(Auton)
10) Have children that fit their definition of 'Normal'.
11) Not have to actually expend effort on a child who may need extra effort from his only source of help in the world.

I probably missed some.

Edit: Added two I forgot.