A vaccine that prevents human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer may join the ranks of tetanus and hepatitis as required vaccination for area middle-schoolers.
Last week, the D.C. City Council proposed the HPV vaccination requirement for all six-grade girls; according to the Washington Post, the Maryland State Senator Delores Kelley recently introduced a similar bill.
The Virginia General Assembly also proposed a similar vaccination requirement according to a recent Assembly press release.
The Food and Drug Administration recommends the vaccine, Gardasil, for females between the ages of nine and 26.
On campus, the Student Health Center has been offering the vaccine since November, supplying installments of the vaccine for $140 each. The vaccine should be received in three installments a maximum of six months apart.
The vaccine’s controversy centers around its ability to remove the liabilities of HPV and cervical cancer, which conservatives claim will promote promiscuous sex.
Madison Powers, director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown, responded to this concern in an e-mail, noting that the vaccination has a range of positive results that would travel beyond the vaccinated person.
“Mandating medical care or preventative public health interventions is serious business,” she wrote. “Vaccination against some communicable diseases protects not only the person vaccinated but others who are not vaccinated. (Diazepam) ”
Lisa Domme (SFS ’10), chose to get the first installment of the vaccine over the holiday break.
“It’s one less thing to worry about,” she said. “I don’t see it in terms of sex, I see it in terms of preventing the disease.”
James Marsh, director of the Student Health Center, said that the University will not make the vaccine mandatory for attendance. However, he strongly recommends that female students get it.
