Los Angeles Unified School District "Right" To Offer Merck's HPV Vaccine To Female Middle, Elementary School Students This Fall, Editorial Says

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Article Date: 23 Aug 2006 - 15:00 PDT

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The Los Angeles Unified School District "is right" to make Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil available to female middle and elementary school students this fall, a Los Angeles Times editorial says (Los Angeles Times, 8/18). The school district and potentially several other school districts in Los Angeles County through the federal Vaccines for Children Program plan to offer the vaccine to female students starting in the 2006-2007 school year. The Vaccines for Children Program provides no-cost immunizations to children covered by Medicaid, Alaska-native and American Indian children, and some uninsured and underinsured children. FDA last month approved Gardasil for sale and marketing to girls and women ages nine to 26, and CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices later that month voted unanimously to recommend that all girls ages 11 and 12 receive the vaccine. ACIP also recommended that Gardasil be covered by the Vaccines for Children Program (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/25). According to the Times, the health benefits of the vaccine are "too great to ignore," and parents who prefer that their daughters not receive the vaccine will be able to opt out. The editorial says that objections to the vaccine "mostly center on the notion" that providing girls with a vaccine against a sexually transmitted infection could encourage sexual activity, "but there is no research suggesting that this is the case -- any more than there is evidence that giving people tetanus shots encourages them to step on rusty nails" (Los Angeles Times, 8/18). Los Angeles Unified School District 'Right' To Offer Merck's HPV Vaccine to Female Middle, Elementary School Students This Fall, Editorial Says
[Aug 21, 2006]

The Los Angeles Unified School District "is right" to make Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil available to female middle and elementary school students this fall, a Los Angeles Times editorial says (Los Angeles Times, 8/18). The school district and potentially several other school districts in Los Angeles County through the federal Vaccines for Children Program plan to offer the vaccine to female students starting in the 2006-2007 school year. The Vaccines for Children Program provides no-cost immunizations to children covered by Medicaid, Alaska-native and American Indian children, and some uninsured and underinsured children. FDA last month approved Gardasil for sale and marketing to girls and women ages nine to 26, and CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices later that month voted unanimously to recommend that all girls ages 11 and 12 receive the vaccine. ACIP also recommended that Gardasil be covered by the Vaccines for Children Program (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/25). According to the Times, the health benefits of the vaccine are "too great to ignore," and parents who prefer that their daughters not receive the vaccine will be able to opt out. The editorial says that objections to the vaccine "mostly center on the notion" that providing girls with a vaccine against a sexually transmitted infection could encourage sexual activity, "but there is no research suggesting that this is the case -- any more than there is evidence that giving people tetanus shots encourages them to step on rusty nails" (Los Angeles Times, 8/18).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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