World News Australia
01 March 2011 | 07:00:00 AM | Source: AAP
A quarter of Australian girls eligible for the free Gardasil vaccine are not taking up the offer, prompting a move to dispel the “myths” surrounding the cancer-fighting jab.
Studies into the vaccine’s uptake in schools reveal a poor understanding of the way it protects against cervical cancer, says Cancer Council Australia spokeswoman Kate Broun.
Some parents are also put off by their pubescent daughters being offered a vaccine targeting a sexually transmitted infection when the girls are only 12 or 13 and far from being sexually active.
“For some parents that has been a concern and it is a reason they have not consented to the vaccine,” Ms Broun said on Monday.
“But I guess we would say there is no evidence to suggest that a girl who has been vaccinated has gone on to have sex earlier, or have any more sexual partners, than a girl who has not been vaccinated.”
“Perhaps that is a fear for some parents but it is not a fear backed by the evidence.”
Health authorities aim to administer the Gardasil vaccine before sexual activity begins, to maximise its effectiveness.
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There are merits why parents were scared.
They might lose their children because of cancer.
Of course, but it appears the council is using parent’s fears of losing their children to cancer to promote a Gardasil as an ‘cervical cancer’ vaccine and that is deceit. Even the National Cancer Institute has not made a causal link between HPV and cervical cancer. All we want are safe, affordable, necessary and effective vaccines and fair and just marketing of them to medical consumers.