The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is recommending that young males 10 to 12 years old receive the same immunization injection as recommended for girls of the same age. In females, the vaccine is licensed to help prevent cervical cancer. In males, the vaccine will help prevent anal cancer and the spread of human papilloma virus, which is sexualy transmitted and can cause genital warts and lead to cancer.
The vaccine does not prevent the spread of other sexually transmitted diseases, but has proven effective in preventing cancer in women. A CDCP study suggests 15,000 vaccine-preventable cancers occur each year, yet the number of girls being vaccinated is disappointing low.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDCP attributed the low rate of immunization to misunderstanding by parents about when best to administer the drug.
Parents of girls think the vaccine isn’t necessary until their girls become sexually active while the CDCP feels it best to vaccinate before the girls begin having sex. With males, many parents seem to feel the viruse prevented by the vaccine is primarily prevalent among gays; therefore, their sons do not need to be vaccinated.
How do we as youth workers explain important but uncomfortable information to parents?
When on an airplane, the information given by the flight attendant is — in that moment — the most important information you can have, yet attendants are ignored and frequently mocked. (Imagine if the flight attendant waited until the plane was about to crash and then screamed the instructions in a wide-eyed panic.)
Is this a matter of parents burying their heads in the sand?
• My son is not on drugs!
• My daughter is not having sex!
• My son is not gay!
• If we teach sex education in school, it will just make teenagers want to have sex!
Keeping up to date on the latest information and being ready to provide that information can help cooler heads prevail when tempers get hot.
Providing facts such as: 15,000 cancers a year could be prevented with a simple shot given at the same time as other childhood vaccines can help parents understand the magnitude of the matter. Part of our job as youth leaders is to help parents see their offspring as adults. There’s an old saying that once someone has seen you in diapers it’s difficult to see you any other way. Parents may see the vaccine as unnecessary because they still see their children as children.
We vaccinate kids against all other diseases. Most parents have no problem with these other vaccines because they view them as protecting their children from unnecessary illnesses. The HPV vaccine should be seen the same way.
