Australian school girls to get free cervical cancer vaccinations
Filed under: Child Development, Health and Safety, Lifestyle
Cervical cancer is almost always caused by exposure to HPV, a virus that is most often sexually transmitted. Cervical cancer also kills thousands of women every year around the world, and affects many more thousands of women who must undergo invasive surgery to remove it. The good news is that there is a vaccine that can immunize women from HPV, and thus drastically reduce the number of cases of cervical cancer every year. The religious nutjobs in the United States have been doing their best to prevent those vaccinations from helping the girls who need it most in this country, even trying to prevent its approval by the FDA, because, well, you know, sex is evil unless part of a traditional marriage, etc. Well, the Australians have just enacted a program that will provide up to 2 million girls and young women with free vaccinations against cervical cancer starting next April.
All girls aged 12 and 13 in their first year of high school will be offered the vaccine, which comes in three injections over seven months. The vaccine is most effective when given to girls at that age. "Catch-up" vaccinations will also be given to girls up to age 18 in schools and will be free to women up to age 26 through their doctors.
This is a positive step for Australia but programs like it should not be suppressed elsewhere because of a minority's religious fanaticism. So far, New Hampshire is the only state in the U.S. with a program to offer the vaccine for free.