Suppose you could protect your daughter from contracting cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), which kills about 4,000 women in the U.S. every year. You could also protect your son from the same virus, which can cause cancers of the vulva, penis, anus, and throat. According to an article in the Morning Call today, roughly 15,000 women and 7,000 men in the U.S. develop HPV-related cancer.
To prevent HPV-related cancer, you need a series of three shots. But large numbers of boys and girls are not getting the vaccine, especially in southeastern states, which also have higher rates of cervical cancer.
A huge problem is that parents are uncomfortable with asking for a vaccine to prevent a sexually-transmitted disease. They don’t want to think of their child as having sex. Evidently they’d rather think of their child dying of cervical cancer.
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