HPV Vaccine - A parent blogs about their choice

The following is a blog posting by Disappearing John on the choice he and his wife made about getting their daughter vaccinated with the new-ish HPV vaccine. I thought this was an insightful post, and that it might inspire some interesting commentary, and appreciate his honesty in the way he thought through some of the issues he discusses below. (Reprinted with permission of the author)

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Why is this a difficult choice?

I seem to be on an ethics role lately, but my wife and I ran into a question at our pediatrician's office last month, and I was surprised by all of the discussions I have gotten started just by bringing it up with others...We have a 13 year-old daughter. (okay, when she's hormonally challenged, I say my WIFE has a 13 year old daughter but, none the less). We took her to our doctor to look at a mole that has begun to change on her back to get referred to a dermatologist.

While there, we found out she was due for some immunization boosters, so, over our daughter's staunch objections, we said, "let's get them today, too!"It was then the pediatrician sat down and said, "We have a new vaccine available that is not mandatory, but we recommend it... The HPV vaccine. It is a series of three shots, given two months apart..." My wife and I were both familiar with it, and said, "certainly, let's give that as well!"The pediatrician breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "You would not believe how many parents have been offended that I have suggested it, or yelled at me for suggesting their daughter might be sexually active or advocating that kids this age be sexually active. I am saying nothing of the sort, but this vaccine works best if given before sexual activity begins."

My wife and I have had many frank and open conversations with all of my kids, and they all know our moral positions and beliefs, and know they can talk to us about anything. We explained to our daughter what the shot was for, and reinforced why we were getting her immunized, and that it was not "our blessing" for her to be sexually active. I talked about this at work the other night, and was surprised that a couple of the nurses I work with were opposed to giving their daughters this vaccine. These are emergency room nurses who see pregnant 14-15 year old girls all the time!

To my wife and I, it was a no-brainer. We faced a similar dilemma 6 years ago when our oldest daughter had a severe bout of ovarian cysts, and the best course of treatment was low-dose birth control pills. Deciding to put your 15 year old daughter on birth control pills is a hard choice for a man (any parent, I guess) to make, but it did help open many important conversations.I guess it underscores the current confusion with sex education in America, which is not where I wanted this post to go, but in my humble opinion, closing our eyes and pretending that if we don't tell our kids about sex, birth control and STD control, that they won't become interested in sex and experiment sexually is pretty stupid.It amazes me that people think that getting their kids an immunization is equivalent to saying, "Okay, go have sex now!"