[JHeath]

Posted Online: 4-17-2007
Health department to offer HPV vaccine


The La Porte County Health Department announced Friday it has the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil available.

Gardasil was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2006 and has been approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It protects against HPV, the most common risk factor for cervical cancer, according to state health officials.

More than 1,000 women in Indiana were diagnosed with cervical cancer, a preventable disease, and more than 400 women died of it between 2000 and 2004, according to the La Porte County Health Department.

The health department is providing Gardasil to adolescent girls, ages 9 to 18, who are not insured or are currently enrolled in Hoosier HealthWise.

Walk-in clinics are located at 809 State St., La Porte, fourth floor, every Monday from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. and noon to 3:00 p.m.; and at 302 W. 8th St., Michigan City, every Tuesday from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. and noon to 3:00 p.m.

[Southsider2k12]

Is this the vaccine that Texas Governor Rick Perry was trying to require teen girls to get?

[Ang]

It is, and they are trying to pass legislation in Wyoming to make that available to teens. At first they were trying to get schools to require the shot as part of regular vaccinations, but (as you can imagine) that caused a tremendous uproar. Especially since many of our population here is Mormon (or Latter Day Saints) and they saw no reason for their daughters to be required to have a shot to help prevent sexually transmitted disease. So, now they are trying to make it available for teen girls to get it with or without their parents' consent. The whole point behind it is that it can help to prevent cervical cancer by eliminating the chance of getting HPV-which is gotten from multiple sex partners with little or no protection.
It kills me the way our society is moving. Instead of teaching our daughters about abstinance, we can take them to the clinic to get a shot instead, or they can just go by themselves, and it's supposed to be okay.

[JHeath]

It is, and they are trying to pass legislation in Wyoming to make that available to teens. At first they were trying to get schools to require the shot as part of regular vaccinations, but (as you can imagine) that caused a tremendous uproar. Especially since many of our population here is Mormon (or Latter Day Saints) and they saw no reason for their daughters to be required to have a shot to help prevent sexually transmitted disease. So, now they are trying to make it available for teen girls to get it with or without their parents' consent. The whole point behind it is that it can help to prevent cervical cancer by eliminating the chance of getting HPV-which is gotten from multiple sex partners with little or no protection.
It kills me the way our society is moving. Instead of teaching our daughters about abstinance, we can take them to the clinic to get a shot instead, or they can just go by themselves, and it's supposed to be okay.

I really haven't read much about HPV, or how it is transmitted, but I do know that if there is a vaccine that I can provide to my daughters to help prevent or lower their risk of cervical cancer, I'll be in line to have them receive it.

This does not necessarily mean that I'm telling them it's alright to go out and take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself or that they should have unprotected sex with multiple partners. Instead, I view it as an chance to offer them protection now from an awful disease that could affect them later in life.