HPV Vaccine and Risky Behaviors

So, remember all the hype about the HPV vaccine and how it was going to encourage kids to go out and have loads of sex right away just because they had this vaccine. Well, you know it’s kind of seems like it’s a ridiculous proposition put out there by people of a lot of other things on their mind. (And probably sex is one of them.)

Research Trumps Supposition

Someone decided it needs to be researched so we can back it up with some science. In Austin Texas patients were looked at and examined. The children were monitored and surveyed after they had the HPV vaccine and it was found they were no more likely to have sex than children who didn’t have the HPV vaccine. It didn’t encourage them to have sex. If anything, it may have discouraged them to engage in sexual activity or least unprotected sexual activity.

This is an important thing to show. This vaccine is really a public health win for the people that get it. But, so many children are not being given the opportunity because the parents don’t think the vaccine’s important. In some places prominent community members are against giving this vaccine. There’s a lot of politics around getting this vaccine.

No Politics In Healthcare

I don’t believe there’s any room for politics in healthcare. Public health is public health and anything we can do to reduce the risks of sexual transmitted diseases and cervical cancer is certainly something that we want to be doing. I hope that a lot of people read this article and let me know what you think. There’s a link in the show notes for this episode and its a great article that looks at some of the impacts of HPV vaccine. It includes some of the real stories behind the HPV vaccine. That can be found over at the New York Times wellness blog.

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Find the links to this news item and all the additional resources from this episode of the Nursing Show here – Fungal Meningitis on Steroids and Episode 214.

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