Well I see I’m not the only one to feel this way.
http://www.thestar.com/article/258857
The HPV vaccine is about preventing cancer. Period
September 21, 2007
Catholic schools debating moralissue of HPV shot
Sept. 19
In the current public debate about the HPV vaccine, the most crucial issue is getting lost. The HPV vaccine can prevent the cause of cervical cancer. We would like to put the emphasis back on preventing cancer and saving lives. Parents and their daughters need to know the facts before they make a decision about the vaccine.First, there is no evidence linking the initiation of vaccine programs for sexually transmitted infections to increased promiscuity. The human papilloma virus is a common sexually transmitted infection. The majority of sexually active Canadians are infected with HPV at some point. A small proportion of infections will lead to cervical and other cancers and non-cancerous warts.
Cervical cancer is preventable. Yet year after year, about 400 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 150 women die from the disease in Ontario. Many future deaths can now be averted through vaccination. However, the vaccine is only effective if given to girls before they are sexually active and exposed to HPV. The vaccine has been widely tested and subjected to the same rigorous evaluation process required of all new drugs in Canada.
HPV immunization is a powerful new tool in the battle against cervical cancer, but it is not a stand-alone prevention strategy. It is not a substitute for cervical cancer screening. Because the vaccine protects against 70 per cent of the cancer-causing HPV types, women still need to receive a regular Pap test to detect changes in the cervix that might turn into cancer. Also, most women have already been exposed to HPV and need to be screened.
By adding HPV immunization to regular cervical screening, we have the potential to put an end to cervical cancer. We encourage parents to get the facts and discuss the HPV vaccine with their children.
Dr. Verna Mai, Director of Screening, Cancer Care Ontario, Torontohttp://www.thestar.com/article/258598
HPV furor a pain for politicians
September 20, 2007
Jim Coyle
This week, the Catholic board in Halton was the latest to wrestle with the HPV vaccination program for female students in Grade 8. It narrowly rejected a motion to ban from its schools a program offered by the province to inoculate against the virus that can cause cervical cancer and genital warts.
The program, opponents said, would promote promiscuity and premarital sex and contradicted Catholic teaching that sex is only appropriate within marriage. One trustee went so far as to suggest students not even be offered counselling or advice on the vaccine.
It’s easy to understand complaints that the program was rushed, or that boards don’t have enough information on the vaccine, or that parents should retain the right to approve such a vaccine.
What’s difficult to grasp is the connection between a properly explained preventive health measure and the transformation of righteous innocents into fornicating citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah.
It seems a bit like arguing against tetanus shots on the grounds that students who receive them will commence recklessly impaling themselves on rusty nails.
It seems unlikely, moreover, that at the pivotal moment, in the back seat of a car or wherever it is adolescents go about such business, the deciding factor in shedding one’s virginity will be what’s recorded on a vaccination card. And the Talibanesque notion of withholding information from youngsters striding into adolescence is as disrespectful as would be sneaking the vaccine into them on the desexualized pretence that it wards off bubonic plague or baldness.
Any faith-based education system fearing its foundations are so flimsy and its teachings so tenuous and its young so intellectually fragile that a lifetime’s ethical instruction can be undone by a couple of jabs with a needle is as good as declaring its own failure.
Good public policy, freed from religious influence, is based on a reasoned understanding of how the human animal actually tends to behave, not some idealized notion of how in a perfect world it should. We hope, after all, that everyone will at all times drive carefully. But we still make them wear seatbelts.
If nothing else, the HPV fooferaw demonstrates how the best laid plans of mice, men and campaigning politicians can go awry.
For a man branded the “Education Premier,” September must have seemed a smashing month to tour. All those school visits. All those fresh faces and fresh starts. Enthusiasm as yet undulled by tedious routine. Then this.
At a stroke, it probably makes clear the potential for neverending turbulence from the proposal by PC Leader John Tory to extend public funding to other faith-based schools. It certainly makes things more awkward for the premier’s defence of a status quo when Catholic board health policy seems sourced more from the Vatican than Queen’s Park.
http://www.thestar.com/article/258470
Girls’ health comes first
September 20, 2007
Catholic schools debating moralissue of HPV shot
Sept. 19
I can only laugh at the naiveté of Catholic school trustees opposed to the HPV vaccine because they think it means children are going to be promiscuous very early in their teenage years. Sexuality is part of a much larger (and natural) learning experience that includes influences from family, peers, schools and the media. I’d hate to think that we believe our children’s entire moral compass on such complex issues could be guided by the mere presence or absence of a vaccine.Although long-term studies should be conducted before we vaccinate an entire generation of Canadian girls, this is just one more issue that leads me to think it’s time to dissolve the Catholic school system instead of expanding faith-based school funding.
Jennifer Lemon, Angus, Ont.From a young age we steep our kids in a culture that glorifies lifelong promiscuity – from the magazines they read to the songs they hear to the TV shows they watch. From “hot” male models on billboards to “JUICY” printed across their bottoms, they’re bombarded with sexually stimulating messages.
To suggest the HPV vaccine will make them think premarital sex is okay is ludicrous. It also does a disservice to the intelligence of our daughters. I am raising my girls to avoid premarital sex, but I told them that I can’t do anything about the HPV status of the man they’ll marry. There’s no way I’ll let them get that gift on their wedding night.
Mia Andrews, TorontoOur public-health officials have determined that the HPV vaccine can save women’s lives. They also concluded that the most effective time to administer the vaccine is at age 13. Schools were the obvious choice for the administration of these vaccines. We now see that Catholic school boards are debating the vaccine on “moral” grounds.
The unwillingness of some Catholic boards to administer the HPV vaccine is yet another reason why faith-based schools should not receive government funding.
Mary Kainer, TorontoThe objections of some Catholic school boards to the HPV vaccination should make clear to voters the implications of Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory’s proposal to expand faith-based school funding. Why are boards spending their time and resources debating what is medically beneficial to children? This is not their job.
Allowing religious principles to guide the education system tragically misinforms students on important issues, stunting their ability to think critically.
Steve de Eyre, Cleveland Heights, OhioRev. David Wilhelm, a trustee on the Halton Catholic District School Board, believes that Catholic schools don’t have the right to deny the HPV vaccine to students, but the reality is they do. Should the public fund an institution that has the right to withhold a vaccine deemed safe by another publicly funded institution?
Few Catholic school graduates will thank their school board or parents for withholding the vaccine when they contract cervical cancer.
Neil Hollands, Torontohttp://www.thestar.com/printArticle/258471
More faith needed in teens
September 20, 2007
Catholic schools debating moralissue of HPV shot
Sept. 19
As a former Catholic elementary school student, I was appalled to read that some Catholic boards are deciding not to let their students and parents make the ultimate decision on whether girls receive the HPV vaccine. It seems kind of contradictory to me, since students receive the vaccine for hepatitis B. Does this not also promote “promiscuity” and/or drug use?Catholic school boards need to look beyond the immediate picture and see that this vaccine is very effective when given to a girl before she starts having sex. Just because she gets the shot does not mean she is going to think she is free and clear from all sexually transmitted diseases and decide to have wild sex.
At the same time, Catholic boards need to put a little more faith in their teens. Since the Catholic Church preaches abstinence, give girls the benefit of the doubt that they will follow their faith.
Sarah Millar, Torontohttp://www.thestar.com/article/258472
A case of ostrich syndrome
September 20, 2007
Catholic schools debating moralissue of HPV shot
Sept. 19
As a Catholic educator, I was both saddened and troubled by the report on the actions of some Catholic school boards. At least one board has delayed the implementation of the new HPV shots on “moral grounds.” The logic goes like this: Giving female teens a shot to prevent a cancer that may be contracted through sexual activity is the same as endorsing premarital sex.Do I want my 14-year-old daughter or son to have sex? Of course not. And I hope that the values they learn at home, church and school will help them decide not to become sexually active as a young teen. However, in 2005, Statistics Canada reported that one in eight 15-year-olds was sexually active. By age 17, that had risen to 28 per cent. So does teaching abstinence work? Clearly not. Or do these boards believe that their students aren’t represented in these statistics?
Do I support celibacy outside marriage? Absolutely. Do I want to see teens denied a simple cure to a deadly disease due to fuzzy logic and a failed plan? Absolutely not.
Peter Monahan, Alliston, Ont.http://www.thestar.com/article/258465
Vaccine is not about sex
September 20, 2007
Catholic schools debating moralissue of HPV shot
Sept. 19
It saddens and horrifies me that someone with as weak a grasp on logic and reality as Huron-Superior Trustee Regis O’Connor has anything at all to do with the education of children. “As a Catholic school board, we are very, very aware that this is a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease and that giving it means children are going to be promiscuous,” he said.Somehow he expects us to believe that protecting our children against four strains of a sexually transmitted disease is going to cause them to run out and have sex, ignoring all of the other consequences. That’s ridiculous and offensive. It’s also offensive to imply that the 400 women who die every year in Canada from cervical cancer are dying because they were promiscuous.
I sincerely hope that not a single daughter of a parent who refuses the vaccine is ever faced with a spouse who had a few youthful indiscretions. I also hope that none of them is ever sexually assaulted by an infected attacker. However, the world being the way it is, both hopes are probably in vain.
Promiscuity is not required to get the human papilloma virus. All that’s required is for one partner to have the virus, and that one partner could be a woman’s husband.
Adrienne Dandy, St. Agatha, Ont. http://www.thestar.com/article/258249
Voices: STD vaccinations
September 19, 2007
We asked you whether you think it is appropriate to vaccinate Grade 8 girls against sexually transmitted diseases. Here’s what you had to say. As sorry as I am to have to say this to the august Bishops of the Catholic Church, we don’t all live in their utopian fantasy world. Denying Catholic children this vaccine will just leave them exposed. A large number of their kids will have sex out of wedlock whether they like it or not. Common sense has to prevail in matters of public health.
Peter Reynolds, Toronto
Seems like this is a great example of why Ontario needs to stop paying for the spread of religious ideals in schools and concentrate on a strong public education system. For the Catholic school boards to interpret the immunization of children against a prevalent strain of cancer as some kind of “immoral undertaking” is as puzzling as it is ignorant. This the health program is about battling cancer.
Brian Carleton, Toronto
For the Catholic school boards to say that they preach against promiscuity and fear that vaccinating teenage girls will promote sexual activity is like saying they preach against dangerous driving and fear that providing seat belts will promote recklessness. Naturally, no parent wants a promiscuous daughter but to deny them a potentially life saving vaccine is, in my view, irresponsible.
Jonathan O’Mara, Whitby
At a cost of $400 per person, perhaps our health-care dollars can be better spent on increasing the number of hospital beds or rebated from health premiums. This vaccination is a luxury item as HPV is only transmitted sexually. I think we should be putting health-care dollars to diseases in which people have little control over.
Trevor Carneiro, Toronto
As parents in this day and age, are we really naive enough to think that our children, during their teenage years, are never going to have any intimate contact? It is our responsibility as parents to protect our children from anything we can possibly protect them from. I only wish there had been that same vaccine about 14 years ago, when I was young.
Christina Leighton, Ajax
I knew this was going to come up sooner or later. High school kids – Catholic or not – are likely to have pre-marital sex no matter what the schools are telling them is the right thing to do. Giving them the option to have this vaccine is preventative and it’s definitely a good thing. Get off your high horses, Catholic schools.
Kerry Chan, Markham
A vaccination does not promote sexual promiscuity. Perhaps a more comprehensive education would help to dispel the myths surrounding the use of vaccinations as well as the influence of media and the pre-existing human disposition for sexual relations.
Bianca Williams, Toronto
I think it’s horrible that Catholic school boards are taking away the chance for these girls to be protected from HPV due to the fact that it promotes promiscuity. It’s ridiculous. A girl who may remain abstinent until marriage could contract the HPV virus through her spouse and then be at greater risk for cervical cancer. Even if the school boards do not support the HPV vaccine, ultimately it should be up to the parents and the girls.
Melanie Coulas, Ottawa
While cervical cancer may not be as prevalent as breast cancer, any preventative course is the only responsible act a person can take. Explain to your child as she lies dying of cervical cancer that it is her fault for being a loose woman. While a woman may be abstinent prior to marriage, her future husband might not be.
Tanya Quaestor, Toronto
If the concern over the HPV injection is side effects or safety, that is reasonable. To assume that Catholic teens are any less sexually active than any other group of teens is naive. You can be sure the Church won’t pick up the tab for the medical care of these girls if they get cancer in the future, nor will it provide financial support for the children they may leave behind.
Kim Darby, Burlington
Abstinence is only as good as both parties agree. Some girls will wait until marriage, but did their partners? This disease is preventable with this vaccine. It is abusive to deny any girl the right to prevent cancer in her body.
Brenda DelPozo, Toronto
This vaccine is approved for use in females aged 9 to 26 years. I don’t think this is advocating sexual activity in prepubescents. Regardless of when you think it is appropriate to allow your child to be vaccinated, the onset of sexual activity is something you can neither predict nor control. Shouldn’t the overriding concern be to prevent a disease that may one day harm or kill your child?
Christine Lyons, Toronto
I am firmly opposed to this vaccination both on moral and on fiscal/political grounds. It seems to me that an awful lot of money is going to be wasted so that Merck can line their pockets with our tax dollars. Compare this with this incidence of prostate cancer in this country. It is a major adult male killer and yet the $25-35 test is not deemed worthy to be covered by provincial health care. Parents who wish to protect their pre-sexually active daughters against a largely unknown virus by using a largely unknown and untested vaccine should do so out of their own pocket (at their own risk) and not the public purse.
Nestor Komar, St. Catharines
The fact that moves are being made within Roman Catholic school boards to suppress this important public health initiative on grounds of religious morality is compelling evidence — if any more were needed — of why public money should not be used to finance faith-based schooling of any kind.
David Mayerovitch, Ottawa
It’s extremely difficult to fathom anyone putting a young girl’s future health status at risk for the sake of making a dogma-based non-sensical moral argument. Parents need to decide whether they want to follow their Church’s teachings or save their daughters from experiencing a preventable cancer. The choice seems rather simple.
Robin Kelly, Toronto
It isn’t the vaccines which promote promiscuity, its raging teenage hormones and the lack of education and open discussion inside the Catholic school boards. By restricting discussion to abstinence you mystify and poorly prepare youth for life.
Geoffrey Peart, Milton, Ont.
In this day and age, everyone needs to be educated against STDs and anything that can help in the spread of them helps. I have some concerns about the long-term effects though. Do we know enough? That being said, STDs are for the most part preventable with education.
Charlene Smith, Woodstock, Ont.
The truth is, at some point, teenagers will be having sex. Not every Grade 8 girl is off to the nunnery. The larger issue is just how much do mom and dad know what their precious little kids are doing? It’s a safe bet that many kids are only telling part of the story to mom and dad, and they are probably not talking about the one thing that does promote promiscuity: alcohol.
Trevor Wedgewood, Toronto
Yes, it is appropriate to vaccinate young girls against sexually transmitted diseases. Young women (and young men) will make their own decisions about whether or not they want to wait for marriage to become sexually active. A jab in the arm doesn’t suddenly make people want to do something they didn’t want to do before. Getting your tetanus shot doesn’t encourage you to go step on rusty nails, does it?
Jeff Zarnett, Toronto
Is it morally appropriate not to prevent our future generations from a virus that afflicts so many women in this country?
Sha Skel, Toronto
A wicked and perverse generation should be preaching the virtues of abstinence, rather than promoting another “condom” for the number of risks associated with premarital sex.
Robert Baker, Toronto
Huron-Superior trustee Regis O’Connor’s comment that “…we are very, very aware that this a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease and that giving it means children are going to be promiscuous” is insulting to say the least. Even if the girls (for they are the ones at risk, not the boys) meet his standards and are chaste until marriage, who is to say their future husbands have been? Should these girls have to pay for their husbands’ sexual partner’s disease? Mr. O’Connor – and apparently the Halton-Superior school board – must have very little faith in the success of their teachings with girls (and boys too, I guess). Perhaps their program needs to be changed, but this is a health issue, not a morals issue.
Cynthia Lagueux, Uxbridge, Ont.
Finally, our medical system has a vaccination that prevents cancer. Cervical cancer is now a totally preventable disease yet some people have their heads buried in the sand thinking their “teens” aren’t sexually active. Would there be this many outcries if there was a vaccination against colon, or breast cancer? I doubt it. It is because of the perception that HPV is solely contracted through promiscuity that people are opposing it.
Mike Eliadis, Toronto
As a health care professional I don’t see how this vaccine is any different than the Hep B vaccines being provided to students already. How else do they feel teenagers are exposed to Hep B? Blood transfusions? Sharing needles? Let’s be honest, if Hep B is being acquired by teenagers these days it’s most likely through sexual exposure.
Danielle Porter, Newmarket
After reading the article in The Star, I am amazed at the narrow-minded view of the Catholic members that providing a vaccination program will promote promiscuity. It is time the members of the Catholic Society realize that humans will have sex before, during and after marriage. It is our nature and should not be illustrated as something evil or unnatural. If someone chooses to abstain then they should also be respected for their decision. The decision of the HPV vaccination should and must rest with the parents, not a religious doctrine.
David Kowch, Courtice, Ont.
It is entirely appropriate to vaccinate girls against this disease. If this was for a disease that affected men only, the Catholic Church wouldn’t be saying a word.
Ian Graylish, Scarborough
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