Mandatory HPV Vaccination

Mothers’ support for voluntary provision of HPV vaccine in schools

“…Between 2007 and 2010, 24 states and the District of Columbia proposed legislation requiring HPV vaccination for girls entering sixth grade, but the legislation failed or was withdrawn in a host of states, including Michigan, Ohio, Texas, California, and Maryland [29]. To date, Washington DC and Virginia are the only jurisdictions that have enacted requirements, but both allow parents to easily opt out of the requirement for any reason [29,30]. In the absence of school requirements in most states, voluntary school-based HPV vaccination remains a central strategy to explore, and understanding parental attitudes toward school-based HPV vaccination is an important first step.…”

Cervical Cancer Prevention

“…For females who do not receive the vaccine at that time, the CDC recommends a "catch-up" vaccination for females between the ages of 13 and 26 years old [ 12 ]. The CDC also recommends vaccination of males at the ages of 11-12 years old and up to 21 years of age for prevention of anal cancer and genital warts.…”

“…HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD), with multiple different strains causing approximately 6.2 million new infections annually [ 12 ]. Approximately 15 strains of HPV are linked to cervical cancer, with 70 % of cervical cancer diagnoses caused by two strains, types 16 and 18 [ 1 , 3 , 14 ].…”

“…Since HPV is only spread through sexual activity, many parents opposed to vaccination question the immediate risk of spreading the disease in a school environment. Many public health authorities have also noted that mandated vaccination would not create herd immunity within the population but would reduce the number of infections [ 12 ]. Herd immunity occurs when majority of a population is vaccinated against a specifi c contagious disease, which leads to protection for the portion of the population unable to receive the vaccines.…”

“…This is observed in many diseases with vaccines, including infl uenza, measles, and mumps [ 18 ]. The justifi cation for mandatory HPV vaccination is that women will be protected against the high-risk HPV strains, which would decrease the likelihood of future cervical cancer diagnosis as a result of HPV infection [ 12 ].…”